Gershon Baskin, the mediator in the deal for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, warned that if Hamas and Tel Aviv did not reach a ceasefire and hostage agreement during the month of Ramadan, the entire region would be destroyed.

Baskin wrote in the Hebrew newspaper Maariv: “You have been warned! If Hamas and Israel do not reach an agreement on a ceasefire and a hostage agreement during the month of Ramadan, the fighting will intensify and reach Rafah. There is a clear and imminent danger to the entire region.”

He added: “The region is on fire, starting from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Jordan and beyond to other countries... The price for American support for Israel has already been paid... The global mobilization against Israel is intensifying day after day, and the Israeli military pressure in Gaza is still continuing, and the hostages are not being released, but rather "He kills them."

He continued, saying: "A ceasefire now would serve Israel's interests, but Netanyahu, the most failed prime minister, is a prisoner in the hands of Ben Gavir and Bezalel Smotrich, and perhaps also in the hands of his son and father, and in the hands of the lady."

He added, "There is no sound logic in the absence of an Israeli team from the ongoing negotiations in Cairo. The Hamas team was there in recent days, and it is possible that the hardening of Hamas' positions stems from the fact that Israel is not present."

He reported that a senior Egyptian official told him that when Israel is not in the negotiations, Egypt appears to be supporting Israel, which is a role that Egypt does not want to play, and this does not serve Israel’s desire to release the kidnappers.”

He concluded by saying: "In short, it seems to me that the Israeli government decided to sacrifice the kidnapped people, which is more than sad, it is tragic."

The war in Gaza has entered its 154th day, as bombing continues on several areas in the Strip amid a famine that has become a reality.

Israeli military operations in the besieged Gaza Strip left more than 30,000 dead and more than 70,000 wounded, most of them women and children, while international mediators race against time to reach a ceasefire before the month of Ramadan.

Source: Sama News