00:00And the latest that we seem to be hearing is coming from the Israeli foreign minister who is optimistic that a ceasefire and hostage release deal can be reached in Gaza.
00:12Is that your understanding? And how optimistic are you that such a deal can be reached?
00:17Well, first of all, I'm also the director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
00:23And as for your question, I am optimistic. I understand that there are still major obstacles on the way, but we managed to overcome some of them.
00:35And I hope we should be able to overcome those who are still with us.
00:38And the reason I'm optimistic is that there's a lot of pressure on Hamas.
00:43And they understand that if they are not going to accept a ceasefire under the conditions that are demanded from Israel and the United States, they are going to suffer much more.
00:54And that's why they have an incentive to reach a ceasefire.
01:00And still, they try to insist on getting the best deal they can.
01:05And that's expected.
01:06And of course, this creates a major obstacle on the way to reaching the ceasefire deal.
01:13But they understand that there is a price to pay for not reaching it.
01:16And that's why I believe that eventually we have an opportunity here to reach the final destination of a ceasefire deal.
