00:00Noga, I mean, the conflict is almost two years old and the biggest, most immediate question right now would be why now when a potential deal had looked like it had been on the table?
00:15Right. Alex, a potential deal has more or less been on the table and been rejected by one side or another since January.
00:24The various deals that we have been referring to as the Wyckoff proposals, the Wyckoff plans, have all been one version or another of the same deal that the Biden and Trump teams together cobbled up in January.
00:40What changed now was the announcement just a few days ago by Donald Trump on his Truth Social network of a new plan in which he personally offered Hamas guarantees that Israel would not return to war.
00:55But as far as I know, the plan was not really much more than that Truth Social post.
01:03And so it's unclear how close we were and it's unclear how close we are to any possible end to this almost two year old war.
01:10But the question of why now is absolutely a top question in Israel this evening.
01:18Why now when the remaining hostages are known to be so ill and so incapable of handling, continuing to handle their condition?
01:31The opposition leader in Israel, Yair Golan, asked if the government even took their plight into consideration before making this decision.
01:42And it is striking, of course, that both Hamas and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been unwilling to really define what they would accept,
01:54what conditions they would accept for an end to this so far endless war.
01:59Well, you've touched upon it a little bit. Can you tell us a bit more about how the hostage families have been reacting to this strike in Qatar?
02:09The families of hostages have been reacting, as one would accept, with absolute terror.
02:15The Forum of Hostage Families put out a statement that reminded everyone of testimony from hostages who've been freed,
02:23who described the particular viciousness meted out to them in torture by their Hamas captors when Israel attacked Hamas leaders and they were still in captivity.
02:35Different family members have issued various statements.
02:40A Navtsan Gauker, at this point an anti-Netanyahu activist whose son has been held hostage for this entire time,
02:50put out a video statement in which she said she was simply shaking with fear, shaking,
02:55and that she fears that the Israeli Prime Minister, by ordering this attack, basically signed a death sentence for her son.
03:06I think it's important to add that Israeli opinion across the board is at best very mixed.
03:12We discovered tonight that Israel's entire top security echelon opposed this operation at this time.
03:21The military leadership of Israel told the government that it felt it was worthwhile to still attempt negotiations at this stage
03:30and that it wasn't the right time for this operation.
03:33So, given the international condemnation and the local domestic condemnation,
03:40more and more it seems that Netanyahu and his cabinet simply have decided to go it alone.
03:46Now, you speak of international condemnation, but when Prime Minister Netanyahu was announcing this attack,
03:52it was hinted that the main ally, the United States, was on side.
03:56But when we heard from the White House spokesperson, it seems that that was not exactly the case, was it?
04:04That's right. It seems that for the first time in a very long time,
04:09the United States is actually aligned with the foreign policy opinions of its Western allies.
04:16All of them have condemned Israel's violation of Qatari sovereignty.
04:21All of them simply failed to mention Hamas, except for the United States that decried this operation,
04:29that said this is an unfortunate incident, but at the same time said that eliminating Hamas' leadership is a worthy goal.
04:37Other statements simply ignored Hamas.
04:39But the cracks showing between Israel and the United States are interesting.
04:45Israel was very quick to announce that it had informed the United States ahead of time.
04:49But listening to the White House briefing, it's unclear whether Israel did so.
04:55In fact, the White House spokesperson said that the military, the U.S. military,
05:00had informed the president that this operation was underway.
05:03It's unclear whether the U.S. military discovered it through their own intelligence
05:08or whether Israel contacted the military.
05:11Qatar, that was informed by the United States, said that it was, quote-unquote,
05:16warned as the bombs began falling.
05:19So it's quite murky right now, but cracks are showing in this very close relationship.
05:24Nogatana Posky, thank you very much, our correspondent there in Jerusalem.
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