FLYERS
Upon hearing of Birnbaum’s initiative, Israeli-American real estate developer David Hager also began raising money.
He told Israel’s Channel 12 on Sunday that he had already gathered some US$400,000 with help from friends.
Each of them “offered in US$100,000”, he said, calling on to other businessmen to contribute in order to reach US$10 million.
Hager, who made his fortune in the United States, said “there are IT guys here who have made huge sums, and this is small money for them”.
Following the recent death of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Palestinians who laid down their weapons and brought back captives would live.
Flyers dropped above Gaza by the Israeli army in the following days also guaranteed that “whoever lays down their arms and returns the hostages will be able to leave (Gaza) … in peace”.
The Israeli army has been air-dropping thousands of such flyers since the beginning of the war, asking for information about hostages.
But these calls have little chance of success, Palestinian affairs expert Michael Milshtein of Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center told AFP.
“There could be one, two, or three cases, but we’re not going to see roads full of people ready to accept this offer,” he said.
Muhammad al-Najjar, a resident of northern Gaza who fled to the southern city of Khan Yunis to escape an ongoing Israeli military operation, told AFP that such offers from the Israeli army were bound to fail.
“As a people, we don’t pay attention to anything the (Israeli army) publishes or distributes,” he said, adding that some people use the flyers as kindle for fires in the shortage-stricken coastal territory.
Najjar, 33, said he believes that “Hamas will not agree to release the hostages without something in return” and pointed to the necessity of a negotiated ceasefire deal to guarantee that the captives are freed.
During a one-week truce in November last year, 105 hostages were released, among them 80 Israelis in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
All attempts to reach a new ceasefire have failed since, with both sides trading blame for stalling talks.
