According to Seymour Hersh, Israel is accomplishing its objectives in Gaza and Hamas will sue for some sort of hostage exchange. From Hersh at seymourhersh.substack.com:
With Al-Shifa Hospital in the IDF’s sights, a new opening emerges for an exchange of hostages and prisoners between Hamas and Israel—and a possible settlement of the war
An aerial view shows the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 7, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. / Photo by Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images.
Hamas, with its leadership in flight and its fighters surrounded and outgunned in sniper fire near the still standing hospitals in Gaza City, has begun talking about an exchange of Hamas prisoners in Israel for the hostages it captured in its surprise terrorist attack on October 7. The initial proposal went nowhere but Israeli officials were more than willing to talk. The last minute Hamas offer suggested that many of the hostages are still alive.
The initial Hamas offer was a nonstarter. Hamas proposed that it would release a total of 113 hostages that would include women, the elderly, the young, and foreigners. In return it asked for the release of 240 jailed Hamas women and teenagers. The offer came with a condition: that the hostages would not be released until the Hamas prisoners were delivered into the hands of a foreign entity. Israel immediately rejected the offer, a knowledgeable Israeli insider told me, “because we don’t believe anything Hamas says.” He added, however, that Israel was continuing to talk with Hamas about an exchange.
The change in approach came on a day in which Israel learned that the two major leaders of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas political leader in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, its military leader, had fled Gaza City for the south. “The do-or-die leadership are not ready to die,” the Israeli insider told me. The offer came after a day of a sniper fire near Al-Shifa Hospital and five other targeted hospitals in Gaza City. “There was no need to bomb now.”
