Hamas handed over four bodies of dead Israeli hostages to the Red Cross early Thursday morning in exchange for the release of over 600 Palestinians from Israeli jails.
Israel was due to release the Palestinians this past Saturday but refused to over Hamas’s handover ceremonies, which it said were “humiliating.” Hamas gave the four bodies to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, without a public ceremony.
According to Al Jazeera, a total of 642 Palestinians will be freed by Israel, including 115 who were serving life or long sentences. Of those 115, 97 will be exiled outside of the Palestinian territories.
Israel will release 445 Palestinians who were detained in Gaza during Israel’s genocidal campaign in the Strip following the October 7 attack on southern Israel. The Israeli military has carried out mass arrests in Gaza, and captured Palestinians, including medical workers arrested at hospitals, have faced brutal torture in prison.
The Palestinian Prisoner Society said on Wednesday that another detainee from Gaza died in Israeli prison. Since October 7, 2023, 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli jails, including 39 who were captured in Gaza.
As part of the exchange, Israel will also be releasing 46 women and children from its prisons. The releases are expected to happen throughout the morning. The first bus carrying dozens of Palestinians left Israel’s Ofer Prison and arrived in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
The release of the four bodies and the hundreds of Palestinians marks the last exchange under the first phase of the hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The future of the ceasefire, which Israel has continuously violated, remains uncertain as the first phase expires on Saturday, and no deal has been reached on the second phase.
Israeli officials have said they want to extend the first phase rather than enter the second phase, which would require a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza under the initial deal. The US has backed the idea of extending the first phase and has made clear it’s willing to support Israel if it restarts its genocidal war.
One of the many absurdities of Zionism is the unashamed habit of distorting the facts without reservation. The Hamas treatment of Israeli captives pales in comparison to the plethora of documented despicable Israeli abuse of Palestinian prisoners. It never occurred to them that if Zionism was so right, just and good, why the perpetual need to maintain and fuel it with inhumanity, war crimes and crimes against humanity? Yet, it distorts reality to perpetuate its existence just like the Third Reich. Make no mistake that the pattern and nature of Zionism is exactly like Nazism. It is arguably worse because it a knock-off of the original, and while the Nazis tried to hide much of their crimes, the Israelis flaunt theirs.
Yes, Israel has the patent on "Victim-hood".
… and all because US helped them along with their evil plans…! Without US Israel is Nothing, Naught, Nada, Nil, Zip…!
Funny. I was going to say the same about Hamas and the Nazis. The Nazis tried to hide their crimes. Hamas rejoices and flaunts them. To them the return of the broken bodies of murdered Ariel, Kfir and Shiri Bibas is a time of great celebration. Even the Red Cross is fed up with them which says a great deal
No one believes you. And you were beaten to it.
@disqus_qhuce9v5DO:disqus@robertscheetz:disqus@disqus_tPoN2lEkPF:disqus@oded_samuel:disqus
đ¤Ł. Thatâs only because I donât spend 8 hours a day on this site
That's ok because like @Tim Burns said one of us is worth like 30 of you guys. And btw, given that Israel killed the Bibas family themselves I don't think you have much to say about Hamas' treatment of the bodies. It was done with all due respect. The children are innocent and considered Muslims.
@disqus_qhuce9v5DO:disqus@robertscheetz:disqus@disqus_tPoN2lEkPF:disqus @
So itâs ok for you to strangle Muslim babies (most probably in front of their mother) and then mutilate their bodies in order to make it look like Israel did it? Strange culture!
Somebody's looking in a mirror.
Sure, lets add some bullshit about them being strangled in front of their mother. It's out there now. You can't put toothpaste back in the tube. Good job. Strange culture!
No one can know for sure. But if theyâre sadistic enough to strangle babies with their bare hands then they are cruel enough to do it in front of their mother.
All this projection can become dangerous to one's well being. Be careful lest you become like Joseph Czuba, the 73-year-old landlord on trial for killing the 6 year old Palestinian American boy Wadea Al-Fayoume and attempting to kill his mother. Wadea was stabbed 26 times. The mother testified that Czuba told her, "You, as a Muslim, must die," before attacking her and her son.
And what's so ludicrous in your projection is that's exactly what many documented cases of Gazan children and young men have testified to, that Israeli soldiers killed family members in front of them to traumatize and terrify them from resisting Israel's occupation and their subjugation. The things you accuse Hamas of doing is what Israel actually does.
@knappster:disqus@disqus_qhuce9v5DO:disqus@John_Shamesh:disqus@warsrus:disqus@robertscheetz:disqus@existentialdread:disqus@disqus_tPoN2lEkPF:disqus @
And yet you said it as if it were fact. Just like you're taking the word of Israeli officials who say the children were strangled. Must be true coming from the same people who claimed there were 40(?) babies beheaded on Oct 7th (/s). And, coincidentally, these strangulations happen right when phase 2 of the cease fire is about to start.
I will go with Israel over Hamas
Even Cyek Uyger who hates Israel acknowlges that 37 to 38 Israeli children were killed by Hamas . The strangulations took place in 2023 and not recently.
Sure, Hamas is just that stupid. Why not hand over dead children that forensics can prove that they were strangled right before the ceasefire is supposed to enter phase 2.
And I meant the strangulations became known right when phase to was about to start. I know those children were killed in 2023. But it couldn't possibly be by any of those 80,000 tons of bombs that were dropped on Gaza /s.
Does the US hand over every item in war to Forensics
Hamas started the war.
80 000 tons of Bombs on GAZA
Look at pictures of North Korea in the early 50s . Same same or worse.
Does the US hand over every item in war to Forensics
Don't get what you're trying to say. Would the US hand over dead bodies that they strangled just days before a second phase of a cease fire they wanted to work was about to start?
Hamas started the war.
Hamas attacked Isreal. Isreal responded with an unbelievable disproportionate, to put it mildly, response.
80 000 tons of Bombs on GAZA
Look at pictures of North Korea in the early 50s . Same same or worse.
So, Israel is as sick as the US. Good argument /s.
I meant you seemed to be asking that Israel ought to hand over the bodies of the kids to the UN.
Israel acted normally since Hamas says they will attack again.
The bombing of North Korea stopped the invasion of South Korea by KIM IL SUNG
Ask South Koreans if they think they US was wrong
Israel acted normally since Hamas says they will attack again.
This is what really pisses me off. Israel's response wasn't justified no matter what Hamas did or what Hamas was about to do. Israel is supposed to be the "good guys", that's why we back them. Right? Good guys don't lower themselves to terrorism. And whether you want to admit it or not, what Israel has done would have been called terrorism if Hamas or Hezbollah had done the same or even a fraction of what Israel has done over the last 16 months.
The bombing of North Korea stopped the invasion of South Korea by KIM IL SUNG
Ask South Koreans if they think they US was wrong
The US ran out of shit to bomb. I'll leave at that as to whether it was wrong.
Israel is protecting themsleves. Hamas says they will attack again. If Israel holds back they are just kicking the can down the road.
Statistics Of North Korean Democide Estimates, Calculations, And Sources*
https://www.hawaii.edu/powe…
From 1948 through 1987 the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was ruled by Kim Il-sung, an absolute communist dictator who has turned his country into an Orwellian state. People were so tightly controlled in all their activities, and those visitors that were allowed in were so managed, that comparatively little independent information about the regime's purges, executions, and concentration and forced labor camps filtered out of the country. Nonetheless, through defectors, escapees, agents, Korean War refugees, and analyses of Korean publications and documents, a hazy picture emerges of systematic democide little different than that carried out in the first decades of the Soviet Union or early communist China.
Perhaps from 710,000 to slightly over 3,500,000 people have been murdered, with a mid-estimate of almost 1,600,000. But these figures are little more than educated guesses. In this case, Kim's thought control over all his people and their foreign and domestic communications has protected him and his party from nothing more than deep suspicion about having committed democide so enormous as to be mega murder. But given the nature of his society and what bits and pieces have come out about his purges, labor camps, and executions, there is enough evidence to at least indict him and his party for this crime against humanity.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
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https://movie-discovery.com…
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#North Korea punishes the families of runaways
#####North Korea punishes anyone who runs away
If someone runs from North Korea they will never see their family again
In 1987 North Korea bombed a South Korean airliner because they were jealous of not getting the Olympics
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
KIM IL SUNG was installed by Stalin
Either KIM or Stalin killed Cho Man Shik the original leader of North Korea because he would not agree to follow Stalin
Stalin gave KIM IL SUNG the heavy weapons and tanks for an invasion of South Korea
North Korea is not a democracy
North Korea is not a meritocracy
North Korea âs government lacks THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN
North Koreaâs government is illegitimate
Israel is protecting themsleves. Hamas says they will attack again. If Israel holds back they are just kicking the can down the road.
There you go again. There is a difference between "protecting themselves" and having total disregard for the safety of innocent lives. That has been the theme of Israeli attacks from the very beginning. Kill anything that moves and ask questions later. Their rules of engagement are atrocious and are not justified under any circumstance. And like I said, if Hamas or Hezbollah showed that same amount of disregard for innocent Israelis, the screaming of TERRORISM would be deafening.
And I don't have a clue as to why you're telling me about North Korea. Me saying the US ran out of shit to bomb in North Korea wasn't in defense of North Korea.
Hamas says they will attack again. .
Israel doesn’t act than most countries in war.
Hamas and Hezzbollah if they had the power would either expell or kill all Israelis
In fact Hezbollah said it was their goal to kill all Jews everywhere ( I got the quote and the voice)
Your funny, as if you were there.
@knappster:disqus@disqus_qhuce9v5DO:disqus@John_Shamesh:disqus@warsrus:disqus@robertscheetz:disqus@existentialdread:disqus@disqus_tPoN2lEkPF:disqus @
Youâre not funny at all. Sad actually
Oh, I don't know. Not really. I just don't like people who have become what they once hated –that's if you ever hated injustice and oppression.
@knappster:disqus@disqus_qhuce9v5DO:disqus@John_Shamesh:disqus@warsrus:disqus@robertscheetz:disqus@existentialdread:disqus@disqus_tPoN2lEkPF:disqus
Oooooo! "strange culture." Go ahead demonize your enemies according to exotic orientalist excrement in order to justify their slaughter and subjugation. You don't know how the Bibas family was killed.
Hamas is more credible than Israel. In fact in one incident Hamas self reported. Abu Obeida said that at least one of the hostages was murdered by his guard after the Palestinian heard members of his family were killed in an Israeli bombing. Now that is an unfortunate incident that Hamas took responsibility for. It was a crime of passion but had mitigating circumstances. This type of blood falls squarely at the feet of Netanyahu and this murderous rogue state that goes by the name of Israel.
@knappster:disqus@disqus_qhuce9v5DO:disqus@John_Shamesh:disqus@warsrus:disqus@robertscheetz:disqus@existentialdread:disqus@disqus_tPoN2lEkPF:disqus
Friends, I can't believe this. I hear this nonsense from @oded_samuel:disqus and just responded based on my general knowledge of the situation. Now I read this article. It is damning!!! All Israeli sources. Verifiably Factual. Your entitled to your opinion @oded_samuel:disqus, but you're not entitled to your own "facts."
@knappster:disqus@disqus_qhuce9v5DO:disqus@John_Shamesh:disqus@warsrus:disqus@robertscheetz:disqus@existentialdread:disqus@disqus_tPoN2lEkPF:disqus
https://thegrayzone.com/2025/02/25/bibas-israeli-govt-propaganda-hostage-killings/
The Greyzone
LoL
Anti American proRussia pro CCP site
I see your new "go to" is now the Bibas children. The reason you'll keep repeating it is because unlike Israel's daily barbaric killing of Palestinian innocents, the Bibas children were an abnormality. At least in comparison to the real terrorists, Israel.
Israel says they were killed by Hamas. Hamas says it was in an Israeli bombing. I can choose not to belief both, but I won't believe anything Israel says. They have proven to be serial liars. Logically speaking Hamas would have the incentive to keep them alive for trading.
@knappster:disqus@disqus_qhuce9v5DO:disqus@warsrus:disqus@robertscheetz:disqus@existentialdread:disqus@disqus_tPoN2lEkPF:disqus@oded_samuel:disqus
7000 Palestiniian minors were killed in the war.
Half of them were 14 – 17 and invoved in combat
What's your point? And where, pray tell, does that info come from? Oh, and those 3,500 were killed in firefights with the IDF, am I right?
yes likely they were killed in fire fights with the idf
Well, if you're making up stories, might as well claim whatever you want.
Go to Quroa I can show you more there
I can show the pictures
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227230.shtml
I don’t usually use the media of China. But in this case.
I have no doubts Hamas puts teenagers through military training, but I could have taken ROTC in high school. And I have no doubt that teenagers participated in the "war" with Israel. I do seriously doubt the numbers you claimed had been killed and how the majority of them had been killed. But I still don't get your point. Israel killing anything that moves is hardly justified even if those numbers were accurate. And you posted your comment as a rebuttal to my comment about the Bibas children being the new "go to" amongst the apologists for the Palestinians being slaughtered. So, once more, what was your point?
This is my point
It had nothing to do with my comment about the Bibas children. Nothing.
Israel requires all non-Orthodox Jewish teenage citizens to serve in its military for 32 months (men) or 24 months (women). Presumably at least part of that time is spent in “military training.”
Israel requires all non-Orthodox Jewish teenage citizens to serve in its military for 32 months (men) or 24 months (women). Presumably at least part of that time is spent in “military training.”
Hamas won't agree to this Extension of First Phase crap…!
Here is some background and history on and about Hamas.
Jul 4, 2012 Hamas, An Israeli Creation
Ron Paul alludes to the fact that Israel helped to spawn Hamas in order to weaken the then immensely popular and secular PLO.
https://youtu.be/cehzmAfC6w0?si=1feHJ9eD8P3wEOxM
I saw this when he first said it. Its being viewed from an American superpower perspective. Its true that Israel thought it could use the Islamic movement as a counterweight against Fatah/PLO as a means to divide and conquer. However, it is nonsense to say the Palestinian resistance did not possess agency. There is background and history as to why the Islamic movement was late to the armed resistance in the way Fatah was. However, Israel spawned nothing but its own stupidity. Similarly, when Netanyahu let the money from Qatar flow thinking the Palestinians will accept the crumbs in the open air prison. Hamas responded with Oct 7. The occupier is always arrogant until its humbled.
Thank you for your time and comment Nubani. I have even more background in this article for a more complete view and understanding.
July 28, 2014 How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas Jan. 24, 2009 Moshav Tekuma, Israel
Surveying the wreckage of a neighborâs bungalow hit by a Palestinian rocket, retired Israeli official Avner Cohen traces the missileâs trajectory back to an âenormous, stupid mistakeâ made 30 years ago.
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2014/07/how-israel-helped-to-spawn-hamas/
Thank you. I haven't come across this article. The history is pretty accurate. My issue is with the idea that these movements that become huge threats to the West and Israel, is not because of their cleverness, ingenuity and persistence, but because of our mistakes. "We let it happen." As if there is no agency for Palestinians and Muslims. The article alluded to the patience these movements are wiling to endure to achieve their goals.
I thought the following excerpts were interesting. Remember the article was written over a decade and a half ago.
______________________________
Israeli officials who served in Gaza disagree on how much their own actions may have contributed to the rise of Hamas. They blame the groupâs recent ascent on outsiders, primarily Iran. This view is shared by the Israeli government. âHamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons,â Mr. Olmert said last Saturday.
______________________________
Mr. Harari, the military intelligence officer, says this and other warnings were ignored. But, he says, the reason for this was neglect, not a desire to fortify the Islamists: âIsrael never financed Hamas. Israel never armed Hamas.â
______________________________
Roni Shaked, a former officer of Shin Bet, Israelâs internal security service, and author of a book on Hamas, says Sheikh Yassin and his followers had a long-term perspective whose dangers were not understood at the time. âThey worked slowly, slowly, step by step according to the Muslim Brotherhood plan.â
_______________________________
Mr. Halevy has in recent years urged Israel to negotiate with Hamas. He says that âHamas can be crushed,â but he believes that âthe price of crushing Hamas is a price that Israel would prefer not to pay.â When Israelâs authoritarian secular neighbor, Syria, launched a campaign to wipe out Muslim Brotherhood militants in the early 1980s it killed more than 20,000 people, many of them civilians.
You are welcome Nubani, context is everything and the reason I put extra effort into allot of topics for well over four decades. Have a great day!
October 7 was supposedly a response to Israeli actions at the Dome of the Rock.
In reality, it looks a lot more like that was pretext and the real trigger was the increasing size and intensity of anti-Hamas protests by Palestinians in Gaza, after Hamas was unable to cow the Palestinian street by executing its Palestinian opponents as “Israeli spies.” Bad Cop didn’t work, so they did what they had to to get Worse Cop to come in.
It was named alaqsa flood because the ultimate goal is to liberate Jerusalem. Any outbreak of hostilities from now on will have "alaqsa flood" as its starting point. It had other motives as well. The Abraham accords were on the verge of marginalizing the Palestinian issue and accelerating normalization. Bassim Naeem (Hamas leader) said a few days after Oct. 7th the Palestinians wouldn't accept a "normalization" process while the occupation languished and Gaza was being choked.
The situation in Gaza was suffocating. Yes they were "living," but it was not a life especially for the youth who had no past, present or future to live like normal human beings. Regardless of what Gazans thought of Hamas no one was oblivious as to who was the source and reason for their misery. Those Hamas fighters who broke out on Oct. 7th had witnessed several Israel massacres before they became adults.
The opposition to Hamas in Gaza stemmed from the type of frustration that ANY government would face under Israel's brutal inhumane blockade. Gazans were frustrated at high prices, lack of services, inability to travel for medical services and education, etc.
It would be reductionist to measure or judge Hamas solely on its rule in Gaza. As a national movement it is ingrained in Palestinian civil society in Palestine and all over the world. Opinion polls done by Shiqaqi polls consistently measure Hamas fluctuating depending on the ebbs and flows of the Oslo years. Support for Hamas was low at the beginning when Palestinians were hopeful at the prospects that negotiating with Israel would produce peace and a Palestinian state. However, as the world knows now Israel would never allow that to happen.
As time went on, for instance after the 2014 Gaza war, a poll indicated that 47% of Palestinians would vote for Hamas if elections were held, while 39% favored Fatah.
PCPSR.ORG
This surge was attributed to Hamas's role in the conflict and the public's desire for an authority that would implement Islamic Sharia and combat corruption.
In more recent years, support levels have continued to vary. A PCPSR poll from September 2023 showed that 44% of West Bank residents supported Hamas, a significant increase from 12% three months prior. Conversely, in the Gaza Strip, support for Hamas was at 42% during the same period.
It is totally unsubstantiated and without proof to claim that Hamas executed its opponents especially after it ousted the PA and solidified power after the 2006 elections. Because Gaza is an Islamic society there certainly was capital punishment, however, I haven't heard of any executions for apostasy, adultery or homosexuality, etc. The crime of murder is punishable by death, and so is treason.
The issue of treason is a very sensitive topic in Palestinian society. On the one hand they wreak huge damage on the Palestinian resistance which has led to the death of many innocents over the years. At the same time they are cynically and immorally exploited by the Israeli spy machine that engages in sexual blackmail and dangling medical treatment and money for destitute people in exchange for spying and information. (the Israelis tried it most recently with food shipments by getting the tribal gangs to take over so there would be chaos. They ended up killing the civil government workers and the gangs).
From 2007 Hamas was releasing convicted criminals early if they memorized portions of the Quran. It was part of a reeducation policy that continues in different forms.
Some of those opposed to Hamas rule among the young are products of social media and tiktok. Social media is an outlet from their inhumane seclusion from the rest of the world. Others may fall prey to western liberalism that is distressed over the inability of Gaza to enjoy democratic rights but can't lift a finger to confront a foreign lobby in their own country that is responsible for so much misery and devastation.
In addition, the PA and strong men like Dahlan who are bankrolled by the sick and debauched Emirati government which spends a lot of money to sow dissent and by loyalties among the population, instigate manufactured opposition to pave the way for them to enter Gaza .
It would also be a mistake to grade Hamas on governance under occupation, blockade and world neglect. Very little if any government faces the conditions under which Hamas governs.
What is being alleged against Hamas is not accurate, but it is exactly what the treasonous PA is doing to it Palestinians in the West Bank, as it protects and administers Israel's occupation against its own people.
For the sake of argument let's assume that Oct. 7th was as you say a cynical attempt by Hamas to suppress demonstrations and kill its own people, what is to replace Hamas? Israel? The treasonous PA? Palestinian and Arab tycoons who can implement Trump's vision of Gaza beach front resorts?
The occupation and its PA collaborators tried this "put lipstick on a pig" occupation by building rawabi which is basically like an Israeli settlement in the West Bank as a way to shut up and buy off Palestinians. The brilliant minds of the west only think in terms of materialism. It was designed as a modern city with high-rise apartments, commercial centers, and public spaces, aiming to provide housing and economic opportunities for Palestinians so they can forget they are slaves on their own land to a European colonial settler project.
Finally, after seeing what Israel wanted all long and what it is capable of it is unfair to deprive Hamas of its worth as a resistance movement, as an Islamic movement and as a liberation movement sincerely concerned with the interests of its people.
If Hamas was perfect and angelic, it would still be massively criticized. However, the criticism has to be fair, comport with reality and not judged according to the biases of those who fundamentally reject all governments or pontificate in idealistic terms over utopian impossibilities.
“The opposition to Hamas in Gaza stemmed from the type of frustration that ANY government would face under Israel’s brutal inhumane blockade.”
Weren’t you the one just complaining about people acting as if Hamas has no agency?
Hamas erected a brutal authoritarian regime in Gaza, and that regime finally pissed off Palestinians enough that they rebelled. Maybe Hamas believed it was justified in its actions, but its actions WERE its actions.
And then they kept them going.
For years, the Qatari government had been sending millions of dollars a month into the Gaza Strip â money that helped prop up the Hamas government there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not only tolerated those payments, he had encouraged them.
https://theweek.com/politics/why-israels-netanyahu-encouraged-suitcases-of-cash-for-hamas
Netanyahu has also come under criticism for his strategy of propping up Hamas to divide Gaza from Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. âThose who want to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state should support the strengthening of Hamas and the transfer of money to Hamas,â Netanyahu said at a Likud party meeting in 2019. âThis is part of our strategy, to differentiate between the Palestinians in Gaza and the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).â
Thanks friend, it is very obvious for anyone educated on governmentâs should know Israel is a Fascist state as their actions demonstrate alone.
Hamas ready to cede control of Gaza, official says
"We are ready today, if not yesterday, to step back from governance," Dr. Basem Naim, a senior political official for Hamas, told NBC News.
Feb. 27, 2025, 2:25 PM EST
by Matt Bradley | NBC NEWS
TEL AVIV, Israel – Hamas is willing to cede political power and administrative governance of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian unity government, but would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is achieved, Dr. Basem Naim, a senior political official for Hamas, told NBC News.
"We are ready today, if not yesterday, to step back from governance to hand it over to a body, a government, a committee, that is ready to run the Gaza Strip," Naim said.
Naim made his comments during a critical impasse: the first phase of a tenuous deal between Hamas and Israel is set to end on Saturday, and no arrangements have been made for continuing the ceasefire.