Ceasefire after Hostage Release.
On Friday 3 November 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again confirmed that he would not agree to a ceasefire until all of the hostages are released.
Israel has stated that 242 people were kidnapped during Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
Hamas has released four of the hostages, and the Israeli military has rescued one of them.
On 20 October 2023, Hamas released Judith Raanan, and her teenage daughter, Natalie Raanan, both from Chicago, USA. This was arranged with intervention by Qatar. The Hamas leadership are based in Qatar, even though they are the elected government in Gaza.
A Hamas spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said the mother and daughter had been released “for humanitarian reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless“.
On 23 October 2023, Hamas released two Israeli women, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper, but still held their husbands captive.
At least 32 American citizens had been confirmed dead this month in the Israel-Hamas conflict, while 10 remained unaccounted for.
Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an estimated 5,000 Palestinians incarcerated in Israel. This values one Israeli civilian hostage to 21 Palestinian prisoners, according to Hamas.
Many Israeli people agree with a prisoner swap, but with comments like: “Let’s get them out, then we can take revenge for the massacre.”
Hamas spokesperson, Abu Obeida, said that the captives had been released for “humanitarian reasons and poor health grounds.”
While ordinary Palestinians suffer and die in Gaza, Hamas leaders live in comfort 2,000 km away.
On 7 October 2023, as Hamas gunmen rampaged across southern Israel, Hamas leaders gathered in front of a camera in a luxury suite in Doha, Qatar. They recorded themselves showing themselves then kneeling to give thanks to Allah for the success of the Palestinian operation in Israel, killing many young civilians, including children and babies.
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U.S. and Egyptian officials found that a third of the names selected to exit Gaza via Rafah crossing into Egypt were Hamas fighters, none of whom were among the 76 wounded Palestinians eventually evacuated.
http://www.haaretz.com