The outside desk

The outside desk

A-Thani repeated that already on the day of the massacre, they turned to an Israeli official after a difficult conversation with Hamas in order to promote a cease-fire that would allow all the civilian abductees to be taken out of Gaza. "Our message was very clear," he said. "They asked for a time window for a ceasefire to allow the citizens to leave, after which we can discuss the other issues and help negotiate them." According to him, in Israel they refused and replied "if they want to release them, let them just release them - without preconditions"