During Monday’s episode of CNN’s “The Lead,” Eliav Benjamin, Deputy Chief of Mission for Israel’s Embassy in Washington D.C., mentioned that although Hamas was granted 72 hours to hand over the remains of deceased hostages, “it’s important to note that 70 hours were also provided a week ago. The situation on the ground is far more complex than it appears on paper. We are ensuring they are held accountable.”
Benjamin said, “It’s the ultimate feeling of mixed feelings, because, on the one hand, we’re over the moon with joy, with the release of 20 of our live hostages and four deceased hostages as well, the visit of the president in Israel…this is an amazing visit of his, very short, addressing the Knesset, people are celebrating in the streets. But, at the same time, we’re still waiting for another 24 deceased hostages to come back home and to see that we go through with the next phase of this arrangement.”
Host Phil Mattingly then asked, “The 24 bodies of the deceased that have not been returned to this point, there was a 72-hour window for phase one to be completed. That was within the 72-hour window. In your view, does that mean that the agreement has been broken on some level?”
Benjamin answered, “True, there were 72 hours we were given. But let’s also remember that 70 hours were also given a week ago. And the reality on the ground is much more complicated than it is on paper. We are holding them accountable. We’re holding Hamas accountable to stand — to keep its end of the deal. And we expect them to do so until the very last hostage that returns and we expect them to do it and we expect the entire international community to lean hard on Hamas as they leaned hard on them to actually come to the table and to make this deal happen to actually go through with it.”
