This has been the case for a long time and it seems not much has changed even after 18 months of fighting that have decimated Hamas and destroyed much of Gaza. Yesterday, Hamas dismissed Israel’s latest offer of a ceasefire and another hostage/prisoner exchange because it included a demand that they disarm. The very first hostage who would have been released under this plan is a US citizen.
Hamas is rejecting a new Israeli proposal to pause the war in Gaza, free more Israeli hostages and negotiate the disarmament of Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, a Hamas official told NPR.
The Hamas official spoke on condition of anonymity because the group had not yet presented its formal response to ceasefire mediators…
Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal presented to Hamas included a willingness to negotiate a permanent end of the war, but on condition of a new demand that Hamas, and all militant groups in Gaza, be disarmed. That’s according to Egyptian mediators, a senior Hamas official and an additional official involved in the talks…
As part of the new 45-day ceasefire proposal offered by Israel, Hamas would release 10 living hostages, which is about half the number of hostages presumed alive, according to the Egyptian officials. The first to be released would be Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, who holds U.S. citizenship.
It’s probably not a coincidence then that Hamas claimed today it had lost contact with the militants holding Edan Alexander:
“We are still trying to reach them,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, said in a statement Tuesday, adding that the group had come under “direct bombardment” from Israel. As of Wednesday morning, it was unclear whether that had changed…
Alexander is one of at least 59 hostages remaining in Gaza, according to Israeli officials, although less than half are believed to be alive.
His family did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But after Hamas released a video of him, likely speaking under duress, on Sunday, his father, Adi Alexander, expressed fears for his son.
Meanwhile, you may have seen that Hamas was facing some protests inside Gaza from people who are sick of the fighting. But after threatening and in some cases murdering those critics the protests have died down.
The demonstrations, which broke out in late March, represented the boldest challenge to Hamas in years and underscored the desperation among Palestinians in Gaza to end the war. The protests have now largely petered out, with Gazans attributing the decline to Hamas pressure and the preoccupation of the enclave’s besieged residents with searching for food and fleeing Israeli strikes and evacuation orders…
Gazans said that some Palestinians who participated in or posted on social media about the protests got threatening calls or summonses from Hamas’s internal security. In local media, anonymous Hamas officials branded the protesters as collaborators with Israel.
Speaking of collaborators, Palestinian “journalists” seem to have mostly decided it was a bad idea to report on Hamas violent crushing of internal dissent as that might suggest Hamas are not the heroes of this conflict.
Local journalists initially wanted to cover the protests. But two said they felt pressure not to cover them and other criticism of Hamas. The journalists spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal from Israel and Hamas.
One journalist said they didn’t cover the protests because they didn’t want to detract from the bigger story — Israel’s attacks — in addition to fear of Hamas labeling them a spy for Israel or taking “revenge.” Another journalist said Hamas’s internal security sometimes follows journalists as they report.
Reporting on what murderous dirtbags Hamas really are would probably do more to end the war than anything else, so it’s a shame the so-called journalists there are too biased or too afraid to do it.
Hamas wants to keep fighting for the same reason it always did when Yahya Sinwar was still alive. It believes the war does more damage to Israel than it does to Hamas. They will continue using the people of Gaza as human shields as long as necessary to achieve their goals. They will do anything but release the hostages and put an end to this.
