Israel and militant groups based in Gaza have resumed talks on reaching an agreement that would see Israeli hostages released. However, the parties’ demands remain far apart.
The Wall Street Journal reports the talks will be held in Egypt and include representatives from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). PIJ is another militia group based in Gaza. On October 7, members of PIJ also crossed into southern Israel and took captives.
WSJ reports that Egyptian officials say Israel is demanding Hamas release 40 captives – including all women, children, and elderly men with compromised health – in exchange for a one-week pause in fighting. According to the journal, Hamas is seeking a two-week pause in fighting.
However, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met with Iranian officials on Tuesday and said the group was seeking a permanent ceasefire. “The problem this time is different interpretations from Israel and Hamas,” he explained, according to Al-Jazeera. “Hamas insists this time the deal cannot be a prisoner exchange solely – it has to be based on a permanent ceasefire.”
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said, “Our vision is very clear: We want to stop the aggression. What is going on in the ground is a big catastrophe.” Hamas says the remaining female captives are soldiers in the Israeli military. PIJ is requesting a ceasefire before any hostage release agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says a permanent end to the war with Hamas is not possible as Tel Aviv is determined to eradicate the group. “Whoever thinks we will stop is detached from reality… All Hamas terrorists, from the first to the last, are dead men walking,” he said.
A previous hostage agreement saw Hamas release dozens of women and children captive in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian women and children imprisoned by Tel Aviv. That agreement broke down on December 1, and Israel resumed military operations in Gaza. At the end of the ceasefire, over 100 Israelis remained captive in Gaza.
Initially, Tel Aviv rejected a proposal to resume talks, but talks resumed in Poland earlier this week. The Financial Times reports Tel Aviv became motivated to restart negotiations after Israeli forces in Gaza killed three Israeli citizens who had escaped captivity. One source described the talks as “positive.” The source added that “a deal was not imminent.”
President Joe Biden was also pessimistic about a deal in the short term. “There’s no expectation at this point, but we are pushing,” he said on Wednesday. It is unclear what “pushing” Biden is referring to, as the White House has refused to place any conditions on the support it provides to Israel.
Humanitarian organizations are demanding at least a temporary pause to fighting in Gaza due to the crisis unfolding. Aid groups say there is little food or medical services available. Human Rights Watch says Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war against the Palestinians who live in Gaza. The UN and World Health Organization have warned the healthcare system in the besieged enclave is nearing collapse.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
Here’s an equation that people in that part of the world have a difficult time understanding: (More Israelis Killed) = (More Palestinians Killed). You can reverse the sides of the equation, but it still equals the same. It’s basic math.
The bone of contention is Justice. The Zionists are intent on stealing the entirety of Palestine, leaving the inhabitants the choice of migration, enslavement, or resistance … an old story. The courage of the Palestinians and their resistance fighters is as rare as inspirational.
Sorry. I am not chosen, so I don’t get the math here at all. Please, let me get it straight. So, Israel wants Hamas to give up the hostages and totally surrender so Israel can KILL Hamas? …Yes? …Okay, okay. See this is where it gets difficult for me. …Sorry. I must be very stupid. I know. …See, exactly what I don’t understand no matter how much I try is: …WHY IN THE HELL WOULD HAMAS EVER DO THAT?
Well I guess they can choose to live or die. So far over 1000 have surrendered. Those that do not surrender will die. This time Israel will not stop until Hamas is finished
You may want to check your math. I heard 2.2 million Hamas surrendered. Or was it, died? Maybe surrendered and died? Wait!? That’s it. Now I remember. They died first then surrendered.
Israel left Gaza-now Israel is now forced to reoccupy it for safety reasons. It is not very courageous to enter a home,castrate,mutilate, and murder unarmed families.It is now time to end Federal grants and tax exemptions to universities that teach otherwise.
I think your inspiration is misguided. The resistance fighters are killing Palestinians by the thousands, and they have as much to do with the impasse as the Israelis do.
Your equation is almost right. Here is slight adjustment I would suggest.
(More Israelis Killed) = (X * More Palestinians Killed) where the value of X is usually around 10.
Does the rule of proportionality say that in the effort to destroy a murderous cult like Hamas that hides among civilians, the number killed on the one side should not exceed the number killed on the other?
No.
And that’s why Israel needed a big number of dead people on October 7th. 10 x
1,4001,200 is so much better than 10 x 30 or 40. But the butchers even outdid themselves this time. They’re getting close to 20x more. Actually, they’ve surpassed that. They just haven’t dug out the thousands still buried under the rubble.Your mathematical formula looks correct.
Humanitarian organizations are demanding at least a temporary pause to fighting in Gaza due to the crisis unfolding. Aid groups say there is little food or medical services available.
The crisis doesn’t go away with a “pause”. It’s like giving the condemned a last meal.
Indeed … and gives the criminal a chance to reload …
It’s my understanding that the remaining prisoners held by Hamas are nearly all IDF soldiers or settler paramilitaries.
The women ( with one exception) are all IDF reservists or conscripts.
Therefore a more accurate description might be POWs rather than Hostages.
Hamas’ position is that either the remaining young women are dead, not in their possession or soldiers. More likely, they have been raped and abused, and Hamas does not want them talking. These hostages are more at risk than the soldiers
Hardly – the women and children who‘ve been released all thanked their Hamas guards for treating them well and protecting them from being massacred by IDF gunships.
One women even wrote a public letter of thanks
Right. This letter was written while still in captivity and then used by Hamas as propaganda hoping that people like you will spread the good word about their “humanity” after their orgy of rape and murder on October 7
Little old lady prisoner a month after her release still describes how humane and caring the Hamas guards were.
https://english.almanar.com.lb/1990716
This is Yocheved Lifshitz. Her husband, Oded, is still in the hands of Hamas. Do you honestly expect her to do anything but praise these “caring guards”? Let’s wait until he is released alive, if ever. Then see what she truly believes
Good that he is being protected from IDF gunships – unlike those tragically killed on 7.Oct
Gilad Atzmon writes [ https://t.me/giladatzmon/1318 ]
Dissecting Israeli Media:
Israeli media seems frustrated and depressed. It swings constantly between mania and melancholia. Every morning the Israeli defence commentators ask how is it possible that we heard yesterday from the IDF’s spokesperson that some specific parts of northern Gaza are now under full Israeli control, then a few hours later we learn that a score of IDF soldiers lost their lives there and a few others are severely wounded?
Addressing this exact question, an Israeli decorated veteran general came a few hours ago with an answer that sounds almost comical to my ears. ”The IDF fully controls the ground,” he said, “but unfortunately the Hamas controls the underground.” The practical meaning of the above is that Israel is winning in the accumulation of war crimes. It flattens street after street, killing women and children. The Hamas is doing the fighting. It has managed to lure the IDF into a guerrilla urban theater. For the IDF like any other organised army this is a fatal disaster.
But the Hamas is just one of Israel’s acute problems. In the north the Hezbollah shows no fear and even less mercy. It retaliates to every Israeli act making it clear to Israel that the Arabs do not believe that the IDF is the ‘strongest army in the world.’
Yet, I actually believe that the most crucial development at the moment is taking place in Yemen.
The Houthies have managed to impose a naval siege on Israel but also on Europe. The world’s leading shipping companies have decided to avoid the Red Sea. Egypt is about to suffer some major financial losses on the Suez Canal but Europe will see some dramatic rise in prices of commodities from the east.
Benjamin Netanyahu has been in office for a very long time. He knows what that means for Israel. He grasps that Europe may decide not to commit a suicide for Israel or America. They tried this type of collective attempt for Zelensky, it didn’t work well. Netanyahu grasps that in order to be ahead of the curve, he needs to bring the war into a conclusion before the pressure on Israel becomes a tsunami.
The only way Netanyahu can push for a closure of the current war is within the context of an extended ceasefire that is linked to a POW/hostage exchange. But there is a problem. The Hamas knows exactly where Israel is, the Hamas knows how badly Israel is doing on the battlefield, it can see how stretched the IDF is, Hamas knows that Israel is struggling in the north. The Hamas is not going to let Bibi off the hook. Apparently, the Hamas just rejected an Israeli call for a ceasefire. It demands a complete stop of the war. It will insist on a complete release of all detained Palestinians in Israeli prisons. It will demand the lift of the siege and a green light for a merchant naval port and an air ports in Gaza. It may also demand to move towards a final solution of the conflict, probably within the framework of Two State Solution.
Netanyahu with his right wing government won’t be able to accept any of it. In fact there is no one in Israel politics that is brave enough to accept these reasonable demands.
Hamas can not stay underground forever. Eventually the IDF will find and destroy all the sources of power and air for the underground city.
Al-Qassem brigades are popping up all the time – just ask the Golani Brigade
Little old lady disagrees with you
https://english.almanar.com.lb/1990716
” hostages”
yeah right.
i remember 9/11, which was an inside job.
figure it out dummies.
Please explain to us dummies
It goes like this. You let something happen. You feign surprise. You go on a rampage and kill everything that moves.
Almost right. More like:
You cause something horrible to happen, you deny it, you continue to be the source of pain and death for your own people, and then you ask the rest of the world to come to your aid when you realize how badly you have miscalculated.
Typical. Making it sound like Hamas and those asking for the rest of the world to come to their aid are one in the same. That’s how people like you can justify the literal massacre that is ongoing.
I’m sorry. I believe I said “you continue to be the source of pain and death for your own people”
I believe I clearly distinguish between the two. You said that this crisis doesn’t go away with a pause. You are correct. It goes away, for good, when Hamas is finished. If they survive this will happen “again and again and again” as a Hamas spokesman said a couple of weeks ago.
I didn’t think you were talking about Hamas when you said they were asking the rest of the world to come to their aid. I still don’t get what you meant. But if you actually think this carnage will make Israel more secure, you are truly delusional. The pre-October 7th status quo will seem like a fond memory henceforth.
The “pre-October 7th status quo” was a delusion. Israel has learned a hard lesson. The border with Gaza will be fortified. Hamas will be disarmed if they still exist. The northern border will also be fortified and Hezbollah will be forced back. It’s not ideal but there is no choice. Perhaps in a generation or two, real peace may be possible.
Israel learned their lesson from previous conflicts with Hamas. Those small skirmishes, as compared to the October 7th attack, wouldn’t allow for the brutal onslaught that is happening in Gaza as we speak. So, through willful incompetence by the IDF/Mossad, Israel got the horror show they needed on October 7th. They were even able to invoke the “H” word and the indiscriminate killing hasn’t stopped since.
You are right in a sense. Hamas was too “successful” whatever the reason. This was their undoing. Had there been a smaller number of casualties, this would have been a brief war. But as a result of this horror show inflicted on Israel, almost the entire country is behind this war to annihilate Hamas. There is no pressure on the government to stop from within, other than to get the hostages back.
Blocked for righteous stupidity.
“Whatever the reason”? Is that a joke? Hamas was allowed to do the horror show in order for Israel to be “allowed” to unleash their barbaric onslaught on Gaza. Ignore the warnings from Egypt. Ignore Israel’s own IDF soldiers telling the higher ups of unusual Hamas activity going on. Ignore Netanyahu own words on why Israel supports Hamas: “This is part of our strategy-to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.” And then later bragging about preventing a Palestinian state. Or Smotrich saying: “The PA is a liability and Hamas is an asset” Ignore the living conditions of Gaza before October 7th. Ignore the comments from Israeli officials calling the Palestinians “animals” or their plans of sending the entire Gaza population into the Sinai or even using a nuke. And why wouldn’t “almost” the entire country be behind their government? They listen to and believe the same bullshit you believe. 40 beheaded babies? Why not. Never mind Israel’s own casualty list from October 7th lists TWO infants among the dead. Meanwhile, we’re told that over 500,000 are now starving in Gaza. But hey, Israel had “no choice”.
Quite a rant full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Israel does not sacrifice its women and children in order to “justify” attacking Gaza. Unlike Hamas which willingly and purposefully embeds itself in civilian residential areas, schools, mosques and hospitals in order to draw Israeli fire, Israel will do everything it can to protect its citizens. Hamas believes that dead Palestinian babies on CNN are their best weapon. And they are right. October 7 was an intelligence failure on a massive scale. The same thing happened in 1973. At that time, warnings were ignored. This combined with hubris and reliance on “the concept” led to both disasters. The entire country is behind this war because they realize that there is no alternative. Most of the hostages came from kibbutzim that were known to be proponents of peace and coexistence. There can never be peace, even a cold one, as long as Hamas or any jihadist cult like it that is driven by a murderous ideology to kill all Jews (not just Israelis) continues to rule over Gaza.
“Unlike Hamas which willingly and purposefully embeds itself in civilian residential areas, schools, mosques and hospitals in order to draw Israeli fire, Israel will do everything it can to protect its citizens. ”
Like the IDF, through its Nahal organization, specifically and intentionally founding kibbutzes in conflict zones for expressly military purposes, and insisting that whole families with children live on them so that the males would fight harder to protect them? Like that there?
No, not like that. The kibbutz was established in Israeli territory as a communal living centre for families, not soldiers. The fact that men will fight to protect their families is obvious. But these are not military bases from which attacks are launched. They act in self defence. There is a difference. And they don’t operate on the cynical and cruel principle that drawing more Israeli civilian casualties is a noble aim that will help their cause.
That was exactly the principle of intentionally establishing kibbutzes as military outposts in conflict areas and then sticking civilians, including children, in with the IDF-sponsored, IDF-trained, IDF-assigned kibbutzim.
It’s not some kind of secret. Leon Uris had Israeli leaders bragging about it in his fictionalized account, Exodus. I once knew a person who was at a kibbutz near one of the borders in the 1967 war as a child and spent days in a bomb shelter because the Israeli regime didn’t want to evacuate civilians. Having them there was supposed to motivate the fighters.
If you don’t kill every black slave, well, those slaves left will continue to rebel, over and over again.
way to go man you just described uncle sam to a Tee.
please stop messing with other people’s heads.
WTF man WTF.
edit) = paid by the comment? or by the word?
damnit you are a whole level above the other 2 or 3 guys. hey, some of us are not stupid.
Edit= I wrote “the” instead of “they”.
Please
oh for God’s sake.
remember when the word was “dummies”