PDA

View Full Version : Gaza City Surrounded



Kathianne
11-04-2023, 12:52 PM
In spite of 3 hour 'window' to escape:

https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/11/04/hamas-cries-uncle-makes-desperate-hostage-offer-n2165899


Hamas Cries Uncle, Makes Desperate Hostage OfferBy Bonchie | 11:46 AM on November 04, 2023The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.



AP Photo/Adel Hana
How do you know Hamas is on the ropes as Israeli forces continue to encircle Northern Gaza? Because they are making offers like this.


According to a new report, the terrorist government has offered to release all the civilian hostages it took on October 7th in exchange for just a five-day pause in hostilities.


Advertisement
Although the terms have varied in recent weeks, Hamas has indicated most recently that it would release all civilian hostages in exchange for a five-day pause, according to diplomats familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive matter. Israeli military captives, whose precise number is unknown, would be retained, possibly to eventually be offered in trade for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.


Sporadic, indirect negotiations are being held in Doha, Qatar’s capital, where they have waxed and waned depending on the tempo of Israeli strikes. With Qatari officials as go-betweens, the United States has been variously represented by Barbara Leaf, the State Department’s assistant secretary for the Near East, and White House and State Department hostage negotiators, diplomats said. Representatives of Israel’s Mossad national intelligence agency have also traveled to Doha. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s top political leader, who lives in Turkey, has participated, along with former leader and current head of Hamas diaspora affairs Khaled Meshaal, who lives in Qatar.


Why would Hamas be willing to give up its most valuable leverage for such a relatively small pause in the IDF's assault? I think the answer is simple: They are crying uncle, and they want a chance to escape the tunnel systems.


Advertisement
It's not known exactly how connected the underground Hamas array is, but given the difficulty and expense of building tunnels, it is likely that the northern portions do not connect directly with the southern portions. That means that the clock is ticking on Hamas fighters now stuck in Northern Gaza. IDF troops are methodically making their way through the area, and it's just a matter of time before each and every tunnel is discovered and destroyed.


A five-day pause would give Hamas the cover to exit those tunnels and retrench in the South, where most of the civilians are now located. In other words, it would simply play into the hands of terrorists who use women and children as human shields, causing even more death and suffering in the long run.


Further, Hamas is also trying to smuggle its fighters across the border into Egpyt where they would presumably find safety from Israeli strikes.




Advertisement
With all of that on the table, it would seem incredibly unlikely that Israel would agree to any such terms regarding the release of the civilian hostages. One, Hamas would almost certainly play games with the situation, perhaps buying itself a few days while not actually releasing anyone. Two, a pause would simply lead to Hamas being given new life in Southern Gaza.


In short, Hamas is cooked, and I think the terrorist government knows it's cooked. That's why you are seeing these kinds of desperate offers they were scoffing at a week ago. Letting them off the hook now would be a grave mistake, both in the short and long term.

Kathianne
11-04-2023, 01:13 PM
"Israel Bombs Ambulance!"

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-tried-to-send-fighters-to-egypt-in-ambulances-for-wounded-gazans-us-official/


Hamas tried to send fighters to Egypt in ambulances for wounded Gazans — US officialIsraeli officials say inspectors uncovered oxygen concentrators for tunnels used by Palestinian terror groups inside truck carrying aid to Strip
By JACOB MAGID
Today, 3:03 am 19


Hamas tried to sneak its fighters out of the Gaza Strip in ambulances that evacuated dozens of wounded Palestinians to Egypt earlier this week, a senior Biden administration official said Friday.


Hamas had compiled a list of the seriously wounded that it wanted to evacuate from Gaza for treatment in Egypt, along with thousands of foreign nationals looking to flee the enclave.


The list was then vetted by Egypt and the United States, which found that a third of the names on it were of Hamas fighters, the administration official said, adding that the list was rejected and none of the 76 wounded Palestinians who were ultimately evacuated in ambulances out of Gaza were members of the terror group.


Meanwhile, two senior Israeli officials told The Times of Israel that Israeli inspectors earlier this week uncovered, hidden in an aid truck, several oxygen concentrators meant to aerate the tunnels operated by terror organizations in Gaza.


“These weren’t for use in the hospitals, but below them. That’s why they were smuggled among boxes of cookies,” one of the senior Israeli officials said, adding that the entire truck in which the oxygen concentrators were found was barred from entering Gaza.




Neither official provided a photo of the oxygen concentrators in question and they did not disclose which organization was responsible for sending the truck.


Since Egypt opened its Rafah crossing into Gaza 11 days ago, several hundred trucks filled with humanitarian aid have been able to enter Gaza following inspections by both Egyptian and Israeli authorities.


The trucks first enter Egypt where they undergo an initial round of inspections. They then are driven into Israel through the Nitzana crossing where they are inspected by Israel’s COGAT military liaison before being sent back to Egypt and driven into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, a second Israeli official told The Times of Israel, saying the format was agreed upon after extensive talks between Israel, Egypt and the United States.




A convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid enters the Gaza Strip from Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on October 21, 2023. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
Israel has thus far rejected growing calls to allow in fuel, expressing concerns that Hamas will divert it to power its tunnels. IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Thursday that Israel would allow fuel to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing should it determine that hospitals have run out of fuel.


Shortly after Halevi’s comments, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a terse statement noting only that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has not approved the entry of fuel into Gaza.”


Israeli battle plans ‘significantly refined’
The senior Biden administration official also said Friday that Israel “significantly refined” its original military plan for its war against Hamas following talks with the US.


Pressed on whether Washington is having discussions with Israel about the growing numbers of civilian casualties, the senior official insisted that the US is “asking hard questions and constantly asking and ensuring there’s clarity about the objectives [they’re] seeking.”


“They have significantly refined what originally was their plan,” the official said in a phone briefing with reporters on condition of anonymity.


The senior official said that calling for a ceasefire after the October 7 onslaught by Hamas, in which terrorists killed some 1,400 people and took at least 240 hostages, would not be the right policy for the US to take.


A ceasefire “depends on the Israelis feeling secure and ensuring something like this cannot happen again,” the official said.


A “pause,” on the other hand, would allow for safe passage of civilians and for more flow of aid into Gaza.




A picture taken from Sderot shows plumes of smoke rising above the Gaza Strip during Israel strikes on November 3, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas. (Jack Guez/AFP)
The official noted that 100 trucks entered Gaza on Thursday and said the US “looks to see that significantly ramped up over the coming over the coming days.”


The official also revealed that Israel agreed to a humanitarian pause on October 20 to secure the release of two American hostages from Hamas captivity.


The administration official explained that negotiators needed to receive assurances from Israel and Hamas that the hostages would be able to travel safely for what was “not a short distance” to reach the border from where they were being held in Gaza.


“There was a time period for that, and it went… like clockwork to get them out,” the official said in reference to what they refer to as a “trial humanitarian pause.”


The senior administration official said a much longer humanitarian pause will be required if a deal is struck to bring about the release of 240 hostages.


A “framework to get the hostages out of Gaza… is very much ongoing,” the official said, without providing further details.