Tel Aviv plans to ramp up its efforts to assassinate Hamas leaders in order to force the group toward accepting a ceasefire deal, a senior Israeli official told The Times. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has ruled out a ceasefire or a hostage deal to end the war, which would collapse his fragile far-right ruling coalition, instead seeking to annihilate Hamas and ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip.
Speaking with the outlet on the condition of anonymity, the official said “following the refusal of the leadership of Hamas to accept the deal, Israel has international legitimacy to continue carrying out operations to assassinate senior Hamas members and release hostages.”
Though the stated goal of Netanyahu’s onslaught in Gaza is the eradication of Hamas, US intelligence, Israeli intelligence, and now the Israeli military believe that goal is unachievable. Regardless, Tel Aviv has assassinated some Hamas figures, including at least two senior members. In January, Saleh al-Arouri, an operations chief, was killed in an Israeli drone strike on Beirut. Marwan Issa, chief of staff of the al-Aqsa Brigades, was killed as well in March during a bombing of central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.
Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and Mohammed Deif, who leads the group’s military wing, remain alive, and Israeli intelligence claims they are hiding in tunnels beneath the city of Khan Yunis. According to The Times, “senior Hamas members outside Gaza, including members of its political bureau, are deemed targets as well.”
President Joe Biden unveiled a ceasefire proposal last month, which he framed as an Israeli conception despite Netanyahu’s immediate rejection of any halt in the mass slaughter campaign in Gaza. Subsequently, the offer was supported by the UN Security Council (UNSC) as well as Hamas.
The deal consisted of multiple phases. In the first phase there was to be a six-week truce along with an initial exchange of hostages and prisoners. It also proposed an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas, the return of displaced civilians to their homes, and a significant increase in humanitarian aid. Amidst the first phase, negotiations were to take place working towards a permanent ceasefire during the second phase. Israeli officials believed the language of the deal was vague enough that Israel and Hamas could enter the first stage without ultimately ending its genocidal war.
Recognizing this flaw, Hamas issued a response which contained, as the Washington Post described, “amendments… including a timeline for a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.” Since then, Israeli officials deemed this a “complete refusal” of the offer and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has blamed only Hamas for the lack of progress. Biden has said he believes a deal is unlikely any time soon and Israel has vowed, following the destruction of Rafah, the mass killing of the Palestinians in Gaza will continue apace.
Almost 40,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered, and over 85,000 wounded, amidst the Israeli starvation blockade and catastrophic bombardment. More than half of all buildings in Gaza have been destroyed.
This week, Navi Pillay, chairperson of the UN-backed Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told the UNSC that “Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
She added, the crimes include “extermination, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, murder or willful killing using starvation as a method of War, forcible transfer, gender persecution, sexual and gender-based violence amounting to torture and cruel or inhuman treatment.”
Connor Freeman is the assistant editor and a writer at the Libertarian Institute, primarily covering foreign policy. He is a co-host on the Conflicts of Interest podcast. His writing has been featured in media outlets such as Antiwar.com, Counterpunch, and the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. He has also appeared on Liberty Weekly, Around the Empire, and Parallax Views. You can follow him on Twitter @FreemansMind96.
Wow, The Chosen People truly have lost their way, AGAIN!
It is never too late to repent and ask for divine forgiveness. Christ will always be there for you. Repent and just see the divine light! Blessed be to all of US!
Many did accept Christ, but then they ceased to be seen as Jews.
That seems to have been more about accepting Paul than about accepting Christ. Christ taught Judaism. Paul paganized Christ for Greek and Roman consumption.
If you're speaking in an evaluative sense, your wrong. Paul's Hellenic rendition signified a civilizational gain or maturation … upon both Jerusalem and Olympus.
I didn't comment on whether Paul's paganization of Christ's Jewish teachings constituted a "gain or maturation." I just noticed that they were not, strictly speak, "Christianity," aka the version of Judaism taught by Yeshua ben Joseph.
Saul was quite a misogynist.
Well, that’s getting deep into things, but you have Christians who were Jews. It’s a shame we don’t preserve the various debates like whether there’s an afterlife or whether such promises are a religious trick. You could include priests from Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, etc. They all seem to have argued different positions with different justifications. Unfortunately, Abrahamic religions insist on destroying competition. But it’s not a matter of different religions. They seem to have influenced one another.
Of course. You can not be both.
I dunno. One born Jewish is such for life maybe. It’s not up to me to label.
Forgiveness, yes; but, only with Retribution.
Sinwar and "friends" know that Israel will get them in the end. Too bad they got 35,000 other people killed. But as Sinwar said, "they are necessary losses".
You're focusing on the side-show (this is their intention), the main act IS the genocide.
When main act as you say get started?
That is one mangled sentence.
You like to keep posting what Sinwar says as though it's a justification for Israels ongoing slaughter. It isn't. No matter how hard you try to twist things, Israel's continuing slaughter of innocent women and children is on Israel. And 35,000 was in the rear view mirror a long time ago.
Israel has been killing Palestinians long before 7Oct. From the year 2000 to 7Oct, Israel had killed 2300 Palestinian children. Palestinians had been shot just for being. Palestinians had died in detention (I read the stories of two doctors who had been captured during the onslaught after 7Oct and died in captivity. Please read this article by Chris Hedges that was in Scheerpost. Note the date: 2000. The first paragraph sets the stage for the remainder of the article: https://scheerpost.com/2024/06/19/chris-hedges-my-promise-to-palestine/
And Palestinians have been killing Israelis long before Oct 7. The current battle was started on Oct7 when Gaza attack Israel. And the persons responsible for starting that battle are on Israel hit list. And history shows that Israel gets most, but not all, of the people on that hit list.
Yes. Let's pretend the killing has been equal and the state-of-the-art weapons Israel is provided by the US are available to those who are brutally occupied.
Sinwar is one using woman and children as human shields. He and his leaders chose to fight the IDF in the cities. All the deaths on Hamas. The IDF will kill Hamas fighters where ever they hide. It Hamas hides among civilians than civilians will die. You will never understand that, but that is the facts of wars.
And Israel is the one deliberately killing those women and children. Anyone Israel kills is on Israel. They are doing nothing different than what Hamas did on Oct 7th but only in a degree that makes Hamas look like choir boys. If what Hamas did on Oct 7th was terrorism than what Israel has done since Oct 7th is terrorism on steroids. You'll never understand that but those are the facts of terrorism
“Hamas has denied a report in the Wall Street Journal which said Yahya Sinwar called the massive civilian death toll in Gaza a "necessary sacrifice".
According to Al Arabiya, Ghazi Hamad, a spokesperson for Hamas, refuted the report and denied that any such comments were made by Sinwar.
"What has been circulated is completely incorrect," Hamad said, adding that Sinwar was "heavily concerned" with ending the war as soon as possible.
https://www.newarab.com/news/hamas-denies-sinwar-called-gaza-death-toll-necessary-sacrifice?amp
This another made up Israeli non-stop propaganda lies that being fed to western media that repeat them without checking the truth. It part and parcel of long train of lies that have been circulated ever since the establishment of Israel.
Of course Hamas is going to call it fake news. It looks bad for them.
It doesn't matter what he said. That's just an attempt to deflect from Israel's ongoing slaughter. It doesn't change a damn thing.
If true, Hamas now has legitimate reason to assassinate the Israeli war cabinet members…!
Exactly. Since Hamas' attack on Israel included the deaths of around 400 IDF and security personal who were amongst the civilians killed during that attack. That attack should now be considered legitimate since Israel 's rules of engagement are exactly the same. As long as there are legitimate targets amongst the civilians, they are fair game.
It does matter if the attack is legitimate as you claim. Israel will kill most of the leaders over the up coming years.
Yes it "does". Thank you for agreeing.
Assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders is a path that Israel should not further. It strengthens the resolve of the resistance fighters. Other groups will join in. If Israel does launch the expected attack on Lebanon, causing great civilian deaths, the specter of Hezbollah launching missiles at ammonia and chlorine plants would devastate Israel. Max Blumenthal brought that up on Judging Freedom with Judge Napotilano. Max stated that Israelis are moving out of Israel at greater numbers. Hitting those plants would be like dropping an atom bomb on Israel. (by the way, did you know that Netanyahu was recently fitted with a pacemaker?)
IDF soldiers would be slaughtered if they invade southern Lebanon…!
We can hope so.
I certainly don't want to be on the side of the Israelis doing that further genocidal land clearance. That is not a place for our military.
It is unfortunately the place of Genocide Joe and our tax dollars, but not my loyalty, not in my name.
And you think your buddy Trump will be better?
That is your hope. You may not get your wish.
"ammonia and chlorine plants would devastate Israel" The is pure BS. Your lack of understanding of chemistry is amazing. Your atom bomb comment is like saying dropping a gallon of bleach in your house is same as setting off a stick of dynamite. Just plain stupid.
Imagine the headlines if they said, "Hamas plans assassinations for US and Israeli leaders"!
Israel's actions against innocent Palestinians are like a 10 year old girl getting raped by 20 grown men!
Sinwar is not an innocent Palestinian.
If they could they will.
“Tel Aviv plans to ramp up its efforts to assassinate Hamas leaders in order to force the group toward accepting a ceasefire deal, a senior Israeli official told The Times.”?
Actually that plan will assure that they would not accept a ceasefire totally. Isreal does not want them to accept any ceasefire.
Hamas did accept the deal, with qualifications. There was a weak point to the document that was noted: permanent cease fire. We put in a poison pill to make sure it would not pass muster.
If they keep this up, there will soon be assassins hunting Israeli leaders, taking justice for genocide like they did after the Munich Olympics. Just saying, this is the path they are choosing, whether they realize it or not.
It may not be "Palestinians," but it will be someone outraged, Turks or Egyptians or some others.
They can't kill the world and remain safe, that is not the path to safety.
Maybe. There will assassination attempts against Israel leaders, it has happen in the past. But there no maybe about Israel killing the Hamas leaders including Sinwar. It will happen.
With an ideology, there will always be another. The IDF spokesperson said that Hamas cannot be defeated, it is an ideology. Look what happened to our experience with the Taliban. George W. Bush messed up by not negotiating with the Taliban, who had offered up of Osama bin Laden. Would have saved a lot of lives, and, a embarrassing defeat.