The news of a potential ceasefire between Israel and Hamas brought a sigh of relief to the world. Unfortunately, the peace was short-lived as both parties resumed the avoidable destruction of lives and property. In this interview with BRIDGET CHIEDU ONOCHIE, Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Michael Freeman, insists that Hamas must release all hostages if they really want the war to end. He also suggested that America’s move to annex Gaza might be the answer to the intractable conflict. 
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Despite global anticipation of peace, Israel resumed hostility against Hamas. Why?
As I will say, we have to remember how this all started. A lot of people forget that this started on October 7, 2023, when up to 5,000 Hamas terrorists burst through from Gaza into Israel and murdered over 1,000 Israeli men, women and children. They butchered, tortured, burnt people alive, they murdered children, babies, raped women and killed 350 people, including young people who were partying at a peace festival. They also kidnapped 250 people in Gaza. They took these people in the early morning from out of their beds, some of them in their pyjamas, to Gaza and have held them since then in the terror tunnels of Gaza.
  
That is the context that we should understand about the war. The agreement was built on the condition that there would be a cease-fire while Hamas would release hostages. After the first stage of the ceasefire, Hamas stopped releasing hostages and still expected the ceasefire to continue. It continued for some weeks; Israel stopped fighting, and we ceased fire, but Hamas were not releasing any of the hostages. They still have 59 hostages that are being held by Hamas. So, it wasn’t sustainable for us to continue the ceasefire. The second stage of the agreement said that Hamas and Israel were going to negotiate about a long-term ceasefire, but Hamas weren’t prepared to talk about basic things in the ceasefire.
  
Hamas said that they wanted to stay in power in Gaza and that they wanted to keep staying armed, and they were going to prepare for another October 7. There is no possibility of discussing a ceasefire and having a long-term conversation if the very starting point of the other side is that they want to kill you. So, we warned them, there were several proposals on the table, as well as mediation proposals to release hostages.
  
An American envoy, Steve Witkoff, put a proposal on the table, the Egyptians put proposals, other people put proposals, but Hamas rejected all of them and refused to release hostages. So, we had no choice but to go back to fighting. 

But Hamas released some hostages in the course of the ceasefire negotiation? 
They did release some hostages and then stopped. For nearly four weeks, there have been no hostages released. None.

So, the ceasefire is based on what?
Releasing the hostages. If the ceasefire is not based on anything other than the release of hostages, we do not cease firing until we get our hostages back. 59 hostages are being held. The majority are Israelis, but there are also other nationals, including a Tanzanian, Nepalese, Thai, Americans and Argentines. There are people of different nationalities being held by Hamas. So, there will be no ceasefire until they release the hostages. That is the basic. 

But one would have expected both factions to come to terms in the interest of civilian casualties or it doesn’t mean anything to you? 
Hamas don’t care. Hamas is a radical Islamist terror organisation. It has no interest in Gaza civilians. It has no interest in Israel, certainly. It wants to kill every single Jew, it wants to kill every single Israeli; it wants to wipe Israel off the map. That is what Hamas wants. Hamas’s own words, its constitution, its charter says they must destroy Israel, they must kill every single Jew in the world. So, when you are dealing with an organisation that said all these, will you fold your hands and allow it carry out its threat? Remember what they did on October 7 – burnt babies alive, tortured children in front of their parents and tortured parents in front of their children. They killed old people on a bus, young people driving in a car, a woman and a man next to their car, and destroyed people’s homes. They went into Kibbutz and kidnapped and murdered several people.
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The reason I showed you some of those pictures is for you to get an idea of who Hamas are. And a terrorist organisation like that doesn’t care about Israelis, and they don’t care about Palestinians. They come from this radical ideology that only cares about themselves. So, Israel is doing everything it can to avoid civilian casualties. It doesn’t matter if the civilian is Israeli or Palestinian. A civilian is a civilian, and it is a tragedy. But when Hamas are hiding behind civilians, when they are using civilians as a shield, then, unfortunately, civilians die. And we want to do everything to avoid that. 

But the level of destruction in Gaza tends to create sentiments against Israel. How do you actually justify your actions?
But there has never been a war in history where civilians didn’t die. And when we think about every war, every single war – the Second World War, the First World War, the Ukraine-Russia War, the war in the Balkans, the wars in Africa- civilians die. But let me tell you something: the United Nations have done a survey and have done research into civilian casualties in war. Generally speaking, for every combatant, whether a soldier or a terrorist or whoever is killed in war, nine non-combatants are normally killed. So, when you are fighting in a town or a city, for every terrorist or every soldier that dies, nine non-combatants normally die.
  
In this current war in Gaza, according to all the information that seems to be available, that ratio is close to one-to-one. That for every terrorist or combatant, only one non-combatant. Although one is still too many, it would mean that Israel has carried out the most accurate, careful war in the history of wars.

Of course, civilians die because it is war, and it is terrible, and when Hamas use houses, mosques, hospitals and schools to hide their fighters, of course, civilians would be affected. 

If the world wants this war to end, call for the release of hostages and ask Hamas to lay down their arms. I promise you, if Hamas lay down their arms and release the hostages, this war will be over tomorrow. 

What exactly is the interest of the U.S. in Gaza? 
Well, you will need to ask America what they are interested in now and what American interests are in Gaza. But I think that President Donald Trump has given a fresh and different thinking. We have been going round in the same circles, coming up with the same ideas for 70 years, and it obviously hasn’t worked because we are still in a conflict with Gaza between people in the Gaza and within Israel. So, I think that President Trump has put out a different idea that should be welcomed. We should look at that as a starting point to understand what could be different about Gaza. We all want to see a better and peaceful future, a future without conflict. So, that is the challenge.
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So, Israel supports ceding Gaza to the US?
Well, Israel has no territorial desire over Gaza. Remember, Israel left Gaza in 2005. We pulled out every single civilian, every single soldier. There has not been anybody in Gaza. The great irony is that the soldiers who are there now are only there because Hamas came in on October 7. Before that, there was no Israeli in there, no soldier, no civilian, and there was a ceasefire. 

As a representative of your country in Nigeria, how would you say her citizens are faring in your country? How safe are they in the face of hostilities?
As far as I am aware, there were no Nigerian casualties at all, although you also need to check with your Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nigerians living in Israel, like other Israelis, go to the bomb shelter when there is a siren; they follow instructions, and they are safe. Israel is a safe country, a strong country, a country that is defending its people and will continue to do so. In the last few months, over 5,000 Nigerian pilgrims have arrived in Israel, travelling around the country and having a fantastic time. They have seen the Holy Land, have all been safe and have all come home. I know that we are in touch regularly with the Nigerian authorities, and they are still having very safe and positive experiences in the Holy Land as we speak. 

Will it be possible to put in figures to how much the country may have lost to this lingering war?
War is expensive. I couldn’t give you the exact figure, but it is certainly in the billions of dollars. It is not something we wanted, but again, when you are being threatened, and remember, it is not just Hamas who threatened us; we are also having rockets from the Houthis in Yemen, attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and we saw the Iranians attacking us as well. 
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