People should view Hamas' release of two American-Israeli hostages as nothing more than a tactic to delay a pending Israeli ground assault into the Gaza Strip, former national security adviser and U.N. Ambassador John Bolton told Newsmax on Friday.
Hamas still holds more than 200 hostages since its terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7 that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Israelis and at least 31 Americans. Israel could begin its ground assault any day.
"We should be very happy that at least two people have been let go," Bolton told "Newsline." "But given what we know about Hamas and how it operates, what the character of its leadership is, I have to say for those concerned with the other hostages, this is an entirely cynical move by them.
"They're trying to delay the entry by the Israeli Defense Forces into Gaza to dig in further to create more booby traps for them, and it puts the lives of the remaining 200-plus hostages in even further jeopardy.
"This is hard logic to talk about it this way. We hoped that a civilized group would let everybody go. That isn't going to happen."
Earlier Friday, Hamas released Americans Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, of Evanston, Illinois, for "humanitarian" reasons, and "to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by [President Joe] Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless," according to their statement to numerous media outlets.
"They're trying to play for time here," Bolton said. "That's what this is about."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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