Much has correctly been made of the fact, however, that, in the Hamas document, Israel is to cease military operations in the first six-week stage of the three-stage deal, in which 33 hostages are to be freed, and that the IDF must “withdraw completely” from Gaza and a “permanent cessation of military operations” must take effect before any more hostages are freed in the second stage. ...

By contrast, under the Hamas terms now, dozens upon dozens of prisoners serving lengthy terms and life terms, murderers and mass murderers and terror chiefs — including Marwan Barghouti, the most popular of all Palestinian security prisoners, who is serving five life terms for orchestrating deadly terror attacks during the Second Intifada, and Ahmad Saadat, serving a 30-year term for organizing the assassination of tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001 — would be coming out of jail. And they would be returning to the West Bank.

Their release, as calculated by Sinwar, would be expected to be perceived by West Bank Palestinians as an astounding humiliation for Israel, an indictment of the Palestinian Authority, which had failed to set them free, and a stunning victory for Hamas.