Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/arrest-of-hamas-leaders-fuel-tensions-between-palestinians-and-israelis Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Israel's detention of 64 leaders of the Hamas-led Palestinian government and 23 members of other factions has further heightened tensions strained after Palestinians abducted an Israeli soldier and Israelis launched a retaliatory attack on Gaza. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: New developments in the Gaza confrontation, as reported by Steven Erlanger, Jerusalem bureau chief for the New York Times. Jeffrey Brown spoke with him earlier this evening. JEFFREY BROWN: Steven Erlanger, thanks for joining us. What are your sources saying is behind Israel's decision to delay a ground offensive? STEVEN ERLANGER, New York Times: Well, essentially because Egypt asked them to. The Egyptians are still hopeful that they can get this captured soldier released before Israel moves even further into Gaza.They have been talking to Khaled Mashaal, who is the so-called hard-line Hamas political leader based in Damascus. There's a sense that it's Mashaal who ordered this raid into Israel and that he holds the key to the release of this soldier.So Egypt asked Israel to hold off a bit and see what would happen. And part of Israel's intention is to show the international community and the rest of the world that it is being patient and that it has no desire to cause unnecessary harm, so another day didn't seem to matter.