Israeli officials are expected to tell Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel won’t allow Palestinians who fled north Gaza to return home until a new hostage deal is reached with Hamas, Axios reported on Monday.
Blinken is in the region and is due to meet with Israeli officials on Tuesday. On Sunday, during a visit to Qatar, Blinken said, “Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow.”
His comments came amid a global backlash over comments from Israeli ministers who are calling for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. The US has framed this position as a fringe Israeli view, and Israeli President David Herzog has insisted it’s not the policy of the government despite Israeli media reports saying otherwise. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he’s looking for other countries to “absorb” Palestinians.
In response to Blinken’s comments about Palestinians returning to the north, where most buildings and homes have been destroyed, an Israeli official told Axios: “We are not going to allow Palestinians to go back to their homes in northern Gaza if there is no progress with the release of hostages.”
A new hostage deal became much less likely last week when Israel launched a drone strike in Beirut that killed Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau, who played a key role in negotiating the agreement that resulted in over 100 Israelis and over 200 Palestinians being freed.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has told family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza that the Israeli assassination made Qatar’s mediation efforts much more difficult.
The Israeli military has said it’s winding down operations in northern Gaza and is focusing on central and southern areas, where the majority of the 2.3 million Palestinians who live in the strip are located. So far, over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the US-backed Israeli slaughter in Gaza.
It is virtually certain that today’s successors to Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whoever and wherever they may be, are planning vengeance in the form of a “new 9-11.” It is entirely certain that they will have more volunteers for the scheme than they could possibly use, as new generations pledge themselves to avenge this genocide.
Will Americans and other Westerners again believe that they hate us for our freedom?
And their pool of volunteers became a whole lot bigger and varied…
Diversity and inclusion a la Allah.
If they are morons then we will see successors to Osama and KSM. If they have any awareness of current American society we’ll see figures more akin to Che Guevara or the Marquis de Lafayette. The American government does not serve the American people anymore and Americans are acutely aware of it.
Homes are now seen as passive income vehicles for the investor class instead of places where people live http://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/how-investors-affect-housing-shortage/.
Social security is a luxury that must be surrendered to enrich the MiC. opinion/finance/599100-congressional-appropriators-prioritize-ukraine-but-not-social-security/.
“Free speech” Republicans demand censorship of critics of a foreign land newrepublic.com/post/177308/republicans-dangerous-new-bill-try-muzzle-criticism-israel.
Meanwhile the media prattles on about January 6th. http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/january-6th-was-an-attack-on-democracy-itself/
January 6th was not an assault on democracy mostly because we have not had a democracy or Republic for sometime; the Federal Government is one of, by, and for the oligarchs.
Are you hoping for another 9/11?
More likely 5 dancing Israelis again
If Israel keeps this bs going, hard to say, how much of a homeland they are going to have, or perhaps ANY of us?….
What are you talking about, if Israel expands through invasion and annexation just like Putin is doing in Ukraine, they’ll have more land.
Putin keeps this BS going and you are fine with that.
Has not once heard you complain about that one among many others.
Easy solution – no more aid money if this is all a real estate grab!
How is it a real estate grab? They can return when the war is over with. In another words, Hamas surrenders the hostages.
And they will all live happily ever after, right, Timmy?
The place will be uninhabitable. It already is. The “voluntary migration” will proceed as planned.
The place will need to be rebuilt, but it is certainly inhabitable. Even Hiroshima was rebuild after the WW2.
Do you listen to yourself? You can’t live in rubble. Saying a place has to be rebuilt to live in means the place is fucking uninhabitable.
“How is it a real estate grab?”
Zionism itself has always been a real estate grab.
People from far away move into the neighborhood, terrorize and drive away the locals and seize the land. Real estate grab, with a side order of ethnic cleansing.
What do you mean. “if”?
Israeli officials are expected to tell Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel won’t allow Palestinians who fled north Gaza to return home until a new hostage deal is reached with Hamas, Axios reported on Monday.
What home?
Earth to Netanyahu – No country in its right mind will “absorb” any Palestinians. Someone must be forced to take them.
Remember when no one in their right mind, wanted Europe’s persecuted in the 30s and early 40s either? History repeating.
No country would want the problems that the Palestinians would bring along.
Just like when Putin told the world that Eastern Ukraine was now part of Russia forever.
Why can’t Israel do the same? You support Putin, you support Bibi.
It’s the people of Eastern Ukraine who proclaimed themselves part of Russia forever – same as it ever was.
Just like the people of Palestine proclaim themselves Palestinian forever – same as it ever was.
“It’s some of the people of Eastern Ukraine who proclaimed themselves part of Russia forever”
Fixed, no charge.
Not “just like”. The eastern Ukrainians were being killed (killing his own people) by the installed Kiev regime.
Your analogy is incorrect. Ukraine was always Russia. Israel was always Palestine. You support Azov and Banderista fascists. You support Netanyahu.
Right. It’s all about “hostages” now that S Africa filed at the ICJ. Except that Netanyahu had the last key Hamas negotiator assassinated (in good faith /s).
After all is rubble.
As the occupying power the Likud Gov’t is liable for paying for the damages.
Read what the ICJ opined in 2004 over the West Bank wall –
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-178825/
“… an Israeli official told Axios: ‘We are not going to allow Palestinians to go back to their homes in northern Gaza if there is no progress with the release of hostages.'”
So, release the hostages. Call their bluff. What’s the downside?
There is no downside for the people of Gaza. Now for the Hamas leaders, that is different story. The leaders know that Israel is coming for them and the hostages provide some protection.
The Zion-nazi plan is to empty Gaza, Hamas is merely the convenient cover story.
So are you saying that Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7 to help Israel Gaza? That is interesting.
The object of Hamas was to take hostages to exchange for its people. Otherwise you’ve got it upside down: BB & co. either (1) allowed it tohappen for a needed “Reichstag fire”, (2) glommed on it as a felicitous happenstance, or (3) both.
The hostages don’t provide any protection because the Israelis don’t give a rat’s a$$ about them. See: Hannibal Directive. It would be interesting to know how many hostages have already been killed by Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign or by trigger happy IDF forces..
If that is true why is Hamas holding the hostages? Just to be terrorists.
100 live hostages does not equal to 20 thousand dead women and children. If you do, I got a bridge to sell you.
Which brings back the orginal question, What do the terrorists expect to gain by holding the hostages?
Money, prisoner swap, who cares. Still can’t compare to the retaliatory behavior carried out.
Wow. What would Israel be doing differently if there were no hostages? Would 100% of the population be displaced instead of only 90%? Would they have dropped more 2000 lb bombs? Bombed more hospitals? Bombed more refugee camps? Killed more women and children? Is that why Israel has been so careful to this point(/s)?
A better question is what would Israel be doing different in Hamas did not attack on Oct 7? But of course the Anti-Israel gang forgets who started this battle. And they forget who choose this battle space. As long as Hamas fighters continue to fight from their positions in populated areas, civilians will die.
Damn man, that is some dumb shit. I guess we wouldn’t be talking about what we are talking about if there was no October 7th attack. We were talking about what protection the hostages provided Hamas. I responded to that. And for the last time Hamas doesn’t get to pick where the war is being conducted. Christ, isn’t that obvious. They don’t have a fucking military. It’s not like they can attack without being completely slaughtered.
In other news, Mexico is still waiting for us to give California back to them.
Keep waiting for a deal …!
All wars eventually end. So will this one. The long Hamas hangs around the more lives will be lost.