MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin Blames Israel for Delay in Hostage Release, Claims Hamas Had ‘No Interest in Keeping’ Civilian Hostages
MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin blamed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza for the delay in the release of hostages taken during Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel while claiming the terror group “had no interest” in keeping civilian hostages during an appearance on Inside with Jen Psaki.
Mohyeldin, who previously worked for Qatar-funded media organization Al Jazeera, said the Persian Gulf emirate had “actually shown to the Americans and the Israelis that Hamas, based on what they were saying publicly and willing to do on the ground with the release of the two Americans and the two Israelis early on, they were prepared to enter into this kind of framework.”
“Explain to us a little bit more about why there was that delay, why it didn’t happen earlier as you reported?” asked Psaki.
“When this conflict broke out, when the attack happened on October 7th, the terrorist attack against Israel happened on October 7th. It was clear from that moment that Qatar was going to play an important role for one very simple reason that Hamas’ leadership, its political leadership resides right now in Doha. So they were able to gather the leaders of Hamas there and begin to speak to them about what had happened, what they knew about these hostages, and more importantly, why they wanted to take these civilian hostages,” began Mohyeldin.
He continued:
It became clear that the chaotic situation that unfolded after October 7th included many layers of information that I think we are still learning about. Who kidnapped all of the hostages? Who was responsible for them? Which Palestinian faction had them under their control? And as the Qataris began to assess that information, relay it to the Americans, relay it to counterparts they were talking to inside Israel, it was clear that Hamas was willing to release some of these hostages, certainly the civilian hostages that it had no interest in keeping. And so the pressure began to mount from the Qataris with the Americans on the Israelis as to whether or not the priority of the operation, the military operation of going into Gaza, was going to be about releasing the hostages or, as they claimed, to try and destroy Hamas. And it seemed certainly to the negotiators that those odds in the beginning were somewhat contradictory, that if you really wanted to release the hostages, as had been demonstrated, there was going to be this attempt as the military wing of Hamas showed, they were willing to release the civilians without any preconditions. So Qatar played an important role in being able to begin that confidence building measure. But there are certainly things and calculations that the Israeli government was making that we’re not privy to anybody else as to why they still went ahead with the bombardment, the ground invasion up until what we saw three days ago.
Later, Mohyeldin noted that Hamas would be unwilling to release the Israeli soldiers being held under this framework, and suggested that Hamas did not currently know the whereabouts of many of the remaining civilian hostages.
“Hamas is saying to the international mediators, certainly to the Qataris and the Egyptians, if you want to prolong this ceasefire, then we will be able to go out, find out where these other hostages are inside the Gaza Strip, bring them into our control under our consolidated control, and begin to release them as we have been doing with these civilians. But if the war resumes, we will not be able to guarantee the safety of the remaining civilians that you claim are inside Gaza being held by other factions or other Palestinians,” said Mohyeldin, who did not surmise that securing such a ceasefire after the October 7 attack was the point of taking the civilian hostages in the first place.
Watch above via MSNBC.
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