Three lessons from day one of the truce

Sultan Barakat, professor of Public Policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, told Al Jazeera that one thing learned from the first day of the temporary pause in fighting is that much of what was accomplished could have been “achieved without having to kill 14,000 people”.

“And that’s lesson number one. They could have talked … and they could have resolved these issues without having to unleash this whole damage on Gaza,” he said, adding that from the beginning of the war, Hamas said they were willing to release captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Another lesson from the truce, Barakat said, is that it showed the similarities between captives taken by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Israel has “now released 17 minors, in Israel’s definition, children, that were captured by Israel over the last couple of years without going on trial. What’s the difference between them and other children being taken hostages [by Hamas]?” he said.

The third lesson learned, according to Barakat, is that the exchange has highlighted that none of the prisoners released by Israel were “necessarily associated directly with Hamas”.

“None of these people released by Israel have been caught after the 7th of October. They’re all a long-term issue in relation to the occupation,” he said.

“And I think what Hamas is also trying to score here is that most of them are returning to the West Bank. None of them is returning to territories that are under control of Hamas.”

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