The murders of six hostages, whose bodies were recovered Saturday from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah, is proof that Hamas is not interested in negotiating a cease-fire deal, former Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus told Newsmax Sunday.
"Words that don't mix are good faith and Hamas," Conricus said in an interview on Newsmax's "Sunday Report." "Hamas is extremely evil. I would even say diabolical."
"They abducted women, children, civilians, the elderly, and babies and have been holding onto them now for 331 days," he added. "If you look at their actions, I think you can make the assumption that they're not going to negotiate and they're not interested in returning hostages."
However, he said he doesn't think the "barbaric execution" will make it more unlikely that there is a cease-fire deal.
"Maybe there will be more pressure on the Israeli government to do more and concede more to Hamas," Conricus said. "I regret the fact that both Egypt and Qatar, countries that the U.S. has good strategic ties with, are not forced to apply pressure on Hamas … [they have been] playing hardball for 11 months and are not letting the hostages go, including four Americans that are still in Hamas captivity."
The hostages whose bodies were found were Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.
Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi, Lobanov, Sarusi, and Danino, an off-duty noncommissioned IDF officer, were abducted from the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on Oct. 7, and Gat was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri, reported The Times of Israel.
Conricus said it's a "sad day" for Israel to learn that the hostages were "murdered a day before Israeli troops got close enough in order to try to get them out."
He added that the IDF's working assumption is that the remaining hostages are being held underground by Hamas, making it even more difficult to rescue them alive.
"As you'll remember, eight Israelis have been rescued by Israeli forces," Conricus said. "Seven of them were held above ground and thus security forces were able to get them out."
He acknowledged that some hostage families may see the news about the discovered bodies in a positive way, as those hostages were alive just a day and a half ago, so maybe their loved ones will be as well.
"Just to be clear, there are 101 Israeli hostages in Gaza being held out of whom 35 are already known by Israeli authorities to be dead, either taken as they were, already dead as bodies or executed in Hamas captivity," Conricus said.
"There may be a little bit more than 60 Israelis that currently are presumed to be alive, and I hope that is the case," he added. "And I hope that we could bring about some kind of deal that allows Israeli civilians to be returned to their loved ones after so many months."
However, he said he does not think there is enough pressure being put on Hamas to convince the terrorists to release their captives.
"There's a lot of pressure on Israel, but not enough pressure on Hamas to give up the hostages," Conricus said.
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com