Former US National Security Advisor, John Bolton, said that Hamas achieved a major victory over Israel.

John Bolton spoke in an article published in the British newspaper "The Telegraph" in which he stated that the exchange deal had a price and gains, but the Hamas fighters whom he described as "terrorists" reaped the majority of the gains.

He wrote that freeing detainees from the grip of Hamas is “deserving of praise, but there are right and wrong ways to do it.”

He added: “It is still unclear whether the deal will set a decisively negative precedent for Israel, but it casts doubt on its ability to achieve its legitimate goal of eliminating the terrorist threat posed by Hamas.”

The former American official considered the exchange deal “fatally flawed” in many aspects, even if things went well.

It was stated that the process of releasing the prisoners will continue for 4 days, which are the days of the truce, and Israel, according to Bolton, will work to prepare for the second round of fighting, including delivering supplies to the forces, and replacing some of them, but the Hamas movement is the biggest beneficiary of the truce, as it It was subjected to strong pressure from Israel during the days of fighting, and when the fighting stopped, it would extract its fighters from a difficult situation.

He wondered how many Israeli soldiers would be killed because of the opportunity that the truce provides Hamas to set more “traps.”

He considered that if Hamas chose to release more detainees, the truce would be extended by one day for every 10 of them, and he asked: “What is the justification for allowing your enemy to determine the duration of the truce unilaterally? What if logistical difficulties mean releasing 6 of them?” Only these?

He considered that this would give Hamas a greater period of rest, which “will place unfair burdens on Israel in the event of a resumption of hostilities, and this will add more influence to Hamas’ efforts to erase what it did on October 7.”

He said, “Israel and the United States, for an unjustified reason, agreed to suspend air surveillance over Gaza for 6 hours a day during the truce,” considering it “the biggest concession on Israel’s part, and even greater than the truce itself, because it deprives Israel of information about Hamas activities.

He continued: “Israel has agreed to be oblivious to Gaza during this period of time that will be favorable for terrorism.”