STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Today, Israel launched an airstrike in an area of Gaza. Israeli authorities say their target was a Hamas command center hidden among people seeking refuge. The area was designated as a humanitarian zone. Our colleague Hadeel Al-Shalchi got a description from our producer on the scene.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: He described a chaotic scene - three massive craters in the middle of the area that he said looked like they were, like, maybe 150 feet deep. Tents were destroyed under rubble. First responders told him that they took all night to pull the bodies out from underneath it.
INSKEEP: Two weeks ago, Israeli troops attacked a different part of Gaza, and in response, Hamas killed six Israeli hostages they were holding there. This prompted demonstrations inside Israel from people who blamed Hamas for the killings and also blamed their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for failing to reach a cease-fire agreement. We have in our studios this morning a visiting Israeli official - General Gal Hirsch, national coordinator for hostages and missing for Israel's government. He's part of the Israeli war Cabinet. Welcome, sir.
GAL HIRSCH: Thank you. Good morning.
INSKEEP: And welcome to the United States, as well. How many hostages are still alive, so far as you know?
HIRSCH: Well, dozens are alive. We have 101 hostages still in Gaza. Let me remind our audience that we started the war with 3,200 missing. And then we came to the point that we have hundreds that were murdered and tortured and raped and burned during the October 7 attack.
INSKEEP: Understood.
HIRSCH: Twelve thousand are badly injured since the beginning of the war in Israel, and we have - we had 255 hostages. Right now, 101. I know that dozens of them are alive.
INSKEEP: What have you thought about as officials within the government, including the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, have been pushing Prime Minister Netanyahu to make a deal - to make a deal that would include a release of the hostages?
HIRSCH: We all want a deal very much. The problem is not us. It's not about us. It's about Hamas, that actually are refusing and saying, no, and again, no, and no. They're not really negotiating. They are dictating. And I can tell you for sure, since I'm the coordinator, the national integrator, that there was never a situation when we have intercepted or actually put an obstacle in front of a deal.
INSKEEP: Let's acknowledge Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, is widely seen as not being that interested in a deal. You appear to be correct...
HIRSCH: Definitely, yes.
INSKEEP: ...About that. At the same time, you do have people inside the government itself saying Israel could make this deal, and the prime minister is holding back.
HIRSCH: Well, this is not the truth. Unfortunately, we never had a deal on the table since December. And I wanted very much...
INSKEEP: The deal that President Biden announced and that said Israel supported - that wasn't a deal on the table?
HIRSCH: It was not on the table because Hamas actually did not respond in a way that could bring a deal. Actually, let me just clarify. President Biden's speech, famous and important one, became also a U.N. Security Council resolution in the beginning of June. That was very important. We actually initiated it. We thought this is a very important move, but Hamas actually did not want to implement it.
INSKEEP: We could get into a lot of details. There's discussions about whether Israeli troops should keep control of a corridor towards southern Gaza, but I want to ask about the broader strategic judgment. I mean, you could plausibly make a judgment that the lives of the hostages are not worth the price to Israeli national security. Have you, in fact, made that judgment?
HIRSCH: No. I must tell you that the Israeli morals and values is bring our people back home. We're doing everything. We're turning every stone, any effort. It is very important to make sure that - during this almost a year, it was very important to make sure that there will be no daylight between Israel and its allies when we are negotiating, because Hamas use this daylight usually, actually, to tackle any option for a deal. When they see that Israel is badly criticized by its allies, by the U.N. Security Council, by U.N. resolutions, by other states that criticize Israel, they just lay back in a chair and say, no rush to bring a deal, no rush.
INSKEEP: You are here in Washington, talking with U.S. officials. Would you assert...
HIRSCH: Indeed.
INSKEEP: ...That there is no daylight now between you, in spite of all the public appearances that there is daylight?
HIRSCH: Well, we've been to Washington, D.C., as you remember, just in the last few weeks, when our Prime Minister Netanyahu made an important speech in the Congress. We've made an important meetings in the White House with President Biden and his team. And definitely, I want to say that I appreciate a lot the efforts that United States of America are making, especially Director Burns and his team from the CIA and other officials that are working very hard to bring a deal. I'm working alongside American officials to bring a deal since the beginning of the war.
INSKEEP: General Gal Hirsch, thanks for coming by our studios this morning. Really appreciate it.
HIRSCH: Thanks very much.
INSKEEP: He is the Israeli hostage coordinator. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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