On the afternoon of January 13th the BBC News website published a report by the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Lucy Williamson which had its headline changed twice within around an hour.
Originally headlined “Hopes for Gaza ceasefire rise as pressure grows on Hamas and Israel” and later “Three things that have shifted towards Gaza hostage deal”, the report is currently titled “Three things that could make a Gaza hostage deal more likely”, with one section being particularly notable because of its framing of the issue at the core of the story.
The three factors which Williamson maintains could increase the chances of a “Gaza hostage deal” are Donald Trump’s imminent taking of office, “growing pressure on Netanyahu from his own military establishment” and the weakening of Hamas’ regional allies.
Having laid out her thinking on those topics, Williamson continues:
“For all these reasons, now is seen as the best chance in months to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas and bring an end to the war.
What has not shifted in the eight months since they were last negotiating are the gaps between them.
Key among them is a direct conflict between the key concern of Hamas, which wants to end the war, and that of Israel, which wants to keep the door open to resuming the conflict, whether for political or military reasons.” [emphasis added]
In other words, according to Lucy Williamson, Hamas “wants to end the war” but Israel does not.
Williamson does not provide a definition of “the war” or any evidence to back up her assertion that Hamas “wants to end the war” and neither does she clarify that it could have ended the current conflict at anytime during the past fifteen months by returning the hostages and surrendering.
Although she goes on to link to one of several BBC reports published in late May and early June 2024 on the topic of a proposed ceasefire, she fails to state that Hamas did not officially accept that offer at the time.
“The deal, as outlined by President Joe Biden in May, is divided into three phases, with a permanent ceasefire only coming into effect in phase two.
Success now will likely depend on whether guarantees can be found to allay Hamas fears that Israel will pull out of the deal after the first phase of hostage releases.”
Remarkably, Williamson fails to remind readers that in December 2023, it was Hamas that breached the terms of a pause in fighting by refusing to release remaining female and child hostages.
Interestingly, Williamson’s report almost completely ignores the topic of Hamas’ demands concerning the release of tens of Palestinian prisoners – including those convicted of terrorism offences – in exchange for every hostage it and other terrorist organisations still hold in the Gaza Strip. Her sole allusion to that highly relevant issue is a one-line reference to “the departure for Doha of the Palestinian detainee co-ordinator, Qadoura Fares”. By downplaying that central issue, Williamson is able to avoid the topic of the return to terrorism of some of the Palestinian prisoners released in November 2023, along with many previous examples, including that of the Hamas commander who initiated the current conflict.
Hamas has a long record of breaching ceasefire agreements, including on October 7th 2023. The fact that the terrorist organisation apparently regards an end to the current conflict as being in its interests at this particular time does not mean that it wants to “end the war” against the Israeli state and it is precisely that understanding which informs Israel’s approach. As noted at the ISW:
“No ceasefire that ends this war without setting conditions to prevent Hamas’ reconstitution will preclude Hamas from launching a new war in the future. Hamas sees any ceasefire as an interim truce that the group can use to prepare for the next round of fighting that its leaders will initiate for reasons and at a time of their choosing. Hamas will not end its multigenerational war to destroy the Israeli state until it is compelled to do so.”
Lucy Williamson, however, prefers to make that crucial context disappear by framing the Hamas terrorist organisation as the party which “wants to end the war”.
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