Israel should immediately destroy the Gaza tunnel in which as many as 200 Hamas terrorists are trapped, despite international pressure to release them, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said on Tuesday.
The blunt remarks by Israel’s second highest diplomat come even as American envoys have been reportedly pressuring Israel to secure safe passage for the terrorists in exchange for them giving up their weapons.
“The State of Israel needs to send an unequivocal message to Hamas and blow up this tunnel with the 200 terrorists inside,” Haskel told JNS in an interview during an official visit to Paris. “Since the ceasefire was signed, Hamas has continually been testing us and pushing back the red lines and blackmailing us, and this needs to stop.”
She noted that some of the terrorists trapped in the tunnel under Rafah in Israeli-controlled Gaza had participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel and murdered Israeli civilians and soldiers.
“So long as we capitulate to their demands, the terror group will continue to further blackmail the State of Israel,” she said.
The international pressure to release the terrorists gathered steam this week following Sunday’s release of the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin, which had been held by Hamas in Gaza for over 11 years. The terms of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire to which Hamas agreed required the terrorist group to immediately release all hostages, living and dead.
Tactical issue?
Earlier this week, Israeli Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Avi Dichter, who is a member of the country’s Security Cabinet, said that the potential release of 200 Hamas terrorists was a tactical issue.
Whether they are allowed to leave or not was “meaningless” in the long term as they would eventually be tracked down by Israeli security, he said.
“If there will be a tactical need to go, they will go,” he said. “They will not take social security. With terrorists that killed Israelis, we will close the story.”
International hypocrisy
Deputy Foreign Minister Haskel was in France for an international conference against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
“We placed a mirror in front of the foreign press and the international community over their hypocrisy and painful messaging that their support for women is dependent on their political stance, race and religion,” she told JNS. “We see that only if it jibed with their political agenda then women deserve their help and protection in seeking justice.”
Anti-Israel violence in Paris
Haskel also strongly condemned last week’s violent disruption by anti-Israel protesters during a performance by the Israeli Philharmonic in Paris in which they repeatedly interrupted the concert by lighting flares and igniting a smoke bomb causing a chair to catch fire.
“It is absolutely unacceptable for people to sabotage such events because of race and religion,” she said. “These hooligans trying to import this destruction to the streets of Paris are endangering the lives of ordinary French citizens who just wanted to enjoy some art and music.”
