Scholz says he understands how “painful” it is for Israel to have to negotiate with Hamas

He stresses that, despite everything, the release of the hostages is “the top priority”

Jan. 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, spoke this Tuesday in favor of the possible agreement between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and that it would facilitate the release of the hostages still in the custody of the Islamist group, an issue that he considers should be “the top priority” despite the “painful” nature of having to negotiate with the perpetrators of the October 7, 2023 attacks.

“After many months of agonizing negotiations, it appears that an agreement is now close to being reached. We understand how painful any agreement with the Hamas terrorist organization is for Israel. However, the lives of the hostages must now be the top priority. “, said the German president on his official profile on social networks.

Thus, the German chancellor has stressed that the agreement between Israel and Hamas “offers the possibility of a ceasefire that will put an end once and for all to the suffering in Gaza” and will also allow the release of the “numerous German citizens” who They are among the hostages in Hamas custody.

“The heinous crime perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023 remains very real for all of us. Since then, we have been mourning together with the people of Israel and anxiously waiting together with the families of the hostages for their safe return.” Scholz has stressed.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an unprecedented offensive against Israeli territory in which it killed nearly 1,200 people and took another 240 hostage. Israel responded with a bloody military offensive against the Gaza Strip that has already left more than 46,600 dead, including thousands of members of the group and a large part of its leadership.

The parties have barely reached agreements over these months, with the exception of a truce agreed at the end of 2023 that served to release a hundred hostages in Hamas custody in exchange for three times as many Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Since then there have been no fruitful contacts, although it now seems that the parties are close to sealing a ceasefire agreement that would serve to free the nearly one hundred hostages still in the group’s custody.