It has been suggested that Hamas almost immediately offered to release all the captives it seized on 7 October 2023, and that if Israel had accepted this initiative the Gaza Genocide could have been prevented.
This is incorrect in several respects.
1. Hamas on 8 October offered to release all the civilian hostages then being held in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for an Israeli commitment not to invade the territory. It did not offer to also release the military and security captives it held, because like every other armed force throughout history it intended to release these in exchange for the release of its own captives held by Israel.
The constant references to “hostages” has created the mistaken impression that all Israelis being held in the Gaza Strip were civilians. In fact, all remaining civilian hostages, as well as the remaining female military and security personnel taken captive on 7 October, were released early this year as part of the January 2025 ceasefire agreement. The remaining captives, scheduled for release in the coming days as part of a final exchange with Israel, are all military or security personnel.
Israel of course rejected the offer, and also did not make any counteroffer, such as the inclusion of military captives in exchange for a commitment to not invade the Gaza Strip.
2. Even if Israel had accepted the offer, it would not have prevented the Gaza Genocide. Israel initiated the most intensive aerial and artillery bombardment of the twenty-first century on 7 October. This would not have been covered by any commitment to not invade the Gaza Strip, and would therefore have continued and probably intensified.
The Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip did not commence until 27 October. Yet, October was one of the very bloodiest months of the Gaza Genocide. The toll, overwhelmingly consisting of civilian casualties, had very little to do with the ground invasion during the last several days of that month.
This also explains Israel’s motivations for rejecting any proposal that would have prevented the ground invasion. Because it was never about the hostages and captives being held in the Gaza Strip.
Israel was determined not only to perpetrate the Gaza Genocide, but also to raze the Gaza Strip to the ground so as to make it functionally uninhabitable. This required a ground invasion.
