The chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has expressed deep misgivings about the proposed details of the emerging prisoner swap with Hamas.
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Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin were killed in the Gaza Strip in separate battles during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. Ethiopian Israeli Avera Mengistu and Bedouin Israeli Hisham al-Sayed, both suffering from mental health issues, crossed into Gaza willingly in 2014 and 2015 and were captured by Hamas.
Lebanon's al-Akhbar newspaper reported Tuesday that Israel has offered to release hundreds of prisoners for the Israeli captives' return.
The Hezbollah-affiliated daily said that the offer was relayed to Hamas via Egyptian intelligence officials.
Derech Eretz MK Zvi Hauser, who heads parliament's top committee, called the potential prisoner exchange deal "outrageous" and said that it would "free hundreds of terrorists."
Certain details on the potential deal were leaked to Hebrew media over the last few days, with unnamed Israeli officials declaring that Israel would not allow murderers to be released. The deal is thought to include provisions, however, of supplying medical aid to Gaza, particularly with regard to helping deal with coronavirus in the territory.
Hauser called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "withdraw from this dangerous move and learn the lessons of the [Gilad] Schalit deal, the majority of whose freed prisoners returned to terrorism."
IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit, was abducted by Hamas in a cross-border raid in 2006 and held in Hamas captivity for more than five years. He was released in 2011 as part of a deal that saw Israel free 1,027 security prisoners, including convicted terrorists.
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In a postscript to the proposed deal, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denied the reports that a prisoner swap was in the pipeline between his organization and the Israeli government.
"This is a ploy by Netanyahu to enhance his personal stature in any expected Zionist elections," he said.
"Netanyahu is still evading a decision in this issue, and is manipulating the feelings of the families of the captured soldiers," Qassem maintained.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
