Turning point? Secret negotiations underway?

Turning point? Secret negotiations underway?

U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh announced that secret negotiations between Israel and the political leaders of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas on the release of the hostages are underway.

The Hamas leader and his colleagues were reportedly told that their survival was possible if they released the Israeli hostages and agreed to begin war crimes trials immediately. Israelis want the death penalty for Hamas military leaders who encouraged and did nothing to prevent the war crimes of their fighters.

"The political leadership of Hamas was not involved in the massacre," Hersh quoted an unnamed US official as saying.

In other words, in those secret negotiations, the political wing of Hamas would be "pardoned", the American official told Hersh.

According to Hersh, the Israeli authorities want the death penalty for the leaders of the armed wing of the movement who, according to Hersh, "encouraged and then did nothing to stop the war crimes of their fighters."

The leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is also directly involved in the secret negotiations for the release of the hostages. According to Hersh, Sinwar is open to a deal.

"The concept of a war crimes tribunal launched by Israel in the midst of a bombing campaign that leveled much of Gaza may seem like a bad novel, but an Israeli expert on the region, who knows the seriousness of the current hostage talks, surprised me by portraying Sinwar as someone ' who might be open to a deal,'" Hersh wrote.

According to the journalist's unnamed source, Sinwar and others in Hamas' political leadership now in Qatar may want any hostage deal to include assurances that Israel will not prosecute them if a deal is reached.

"Dedicated to the cause. No family, very religious, but became very friendly with the Shin Bet (Israeli internal security) guys while in prison and was considered not irrational. He will want an opportunity to serve a cause. It will be open," Hersh quoted an expert as saying.

It notes that Hamas fighters in the underground tunnels of Gaza will soon face shortages of food, water and fresh air, as there is very little fuel left to run the oxygen generators. "More than two hundred miles of tunnels will inevitably become a death trap, making life underground as difficult as above," Hersh wrote.

"Hamas must start releasing the hostages," quoted an unnamed U.S. official as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.