Wall Street Journal: Hamas stopped communications regarding the prisoners’ exchange

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the leader of Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya al Sinwar, told Egyptian negotiators, during talks related to the prisoner exchange, that the war would not end quickly.

This information came in the context of a lengthy report by the Wall Street Journal about Yahya al Sinwar, who studied the Israeli psyche, and bet his life on what he learned about Israel in this war.

It was reported that al Sinwar stopped contacts regarding the exchange of prisoners with Israel several times in order to put pressure on Israel, in order to force it into a truce that Hamas employed to regroup its ranks, according to Egyptian mediators.

When the Israeli detainees were released, it was done in batches over several days and not all at once, which created an atmosphere of anxiety in Israeli society.

Sinwar informed the Egyptian mediators that the war won’t end soon, as previous rounds of confrontation in the Gaza Strip have ended.

He said that the fighting may continue for weeks, which indicates that he wants to put pressure on Israel as much as he can regarding the remaining Israeli detainees held by Hamas movement.

After the end of the humanitarian truce and the resumption of fighting, Hamas hardened its position and said that it would not release more of its detainees unless the Israeli war on Gaza ended.

It stated that these are military personnel, while Israel says that among them are civilians.

Israel agrees with al Sinwar that the fighting won’t end soon.

Israeli estimates reported by the Kan public broadcaster stated that the fighting in the Gaza Strip would extend for an additional two months.

But there will be no ceasefire after that, but rather positioning operations and the Israeli forces will remain inside the Strip.

This issue conflicts with a deadline given by US President Joe Biden to Israel to end the war by next January, according to media reports, but a White House official denied setting a specific date for Israel.