[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

Hamas will free four women hostages in next swap

Hamas said on Tuesday it will release four women hostages in the next swap with Israel under the terms of a fragile truce intended to bring to an end to 15 months of war in Gaza...

www.newagebd.net

Hamas will free four women hostages in next swap
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 22 January, 2025, 00:24

Hamas said on Tuesday it will release four women hostages in the next swap with Israel under the terms of a fragile truce intended to bring to an end to 15 months of war in Gaza.

US president Donald Trump, who claimed credit for the hard-won ceasefire agreement, said he doubted the deal would hold as he took office for a historic second term.

Desperately needed humanitarian aid has begun to flow into Gaza as Palestinians displaced by the war headed back to devastated areas of the territory, hopeful the agreement would hold.

The ceasefire took effect on Sunday, and saw Israel and Hamas conduct their first exchange of hostages for prisoners.

Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said that four Israeli women hostages will be freed on Saturday in exchange for a second group of Palestinian prisoners.

In Washington, newly-inaugurated Trump cast doubt on whether the truce would hold.

‘That’s not our war; it’s their war. But I’m not confident,’ he said.

Trump had claimed credit for the three-phase ceasefire agreement announced ahead of his return to the White House by Qatar and the United States, following months of fruitless negotiations under his predecessor Joe Biden.

Qatar was confident in the ceasefire deal it helped mediate ‘when it comes to the language of the deal, when it comes to the fact that we hashed out all the major issues on the table’, its foreign minister spokesman said on Tuesday.

The new US president has made clear he would support Israel, and in one of his first acts as president, he revoked sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank imposed by the Biden administration over attacks against Palestinians.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his return, while far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich thanked him for lifting the sanctions.

‘I look forward to working with you to return the remaining hostages, to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and end its political rule in Gaza, and to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel,’ Netanyahu said.

‘Mr. President, your unwavering and uncompromising support for the State of Israel is a testament to your deep connection to the Jewish people and our historical right to our land,’ Smotrich wrote on X.

Displaced Gazan Ghadeer Abdul Rabbo, 30, said she hopes that ‘with or without Trump’, the ceasefire will hold and world governments will help ‘maintain this calm, because we are afraid’.

If all goes to plan, during the initial, 42-day phase of the truce that began Sunday, a total of 33 hostages are to be returned from Gaza in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians.

Over those six weeks, the parties are meant to negotiate a permanent ceasefire.

In Rafah, in southern Gaza, Ismail Madi said that ‘we have endured immense hardships, but we will stay here. We will rebuild this place.’

Three Israeli hostages, all women, were reunited with their families on Sunday after more than 15 months in captivity.

Hours later, 90 Palestinian prisoners were released from an Israeli jail.

In Israel, there was elation as Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher returned home and appeared to be in good health.

‘In Emily’s own words, she is the happiest girl in the world; she has her life back,’ Damari’s mother Mandy said on Monday, adding that her daughter was ‘doing much better than any of us could have expected’ even after losing two fingers.

The first group of Palestinians released under the deal left Ofer prison in the West Bank early Monday, with jubilant crowds celebrating their arrival in the nearby town of Beitunia.

One freed detainee, Abdul Aziz Muhammad Atawneh, described prison as ‘hell, hell, hell’.

Another, Khalida Jarrar of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — proscribed as a ‘terrorist’ group by Israel and some Western governments — said she had been kept ‘in solitary confinement for six months’.

The relatives of the three Israeli ex-hostages called for the release of the remaining 91 captives seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, including 34 the military says are dead.

Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi Gonen, said: ‘We got our Romi back, but all families deserve the same outcome, both the living and the dead.’

There was anxiety in Israel over the next phases of the truce, with columnist Sima Kadmon warning in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily that the coming hostage releases may be more painful than the first.

‘Some of them will arrive on gurneys and wheelchairs. Others will arrive in coffins. Some will arrive wounded and injured, in dire emotional condition,’ she wrote.

In southern Gaza, Ammar Barbakh, 35, spent the truce’s first night in a tent on the rubble of his home.

‘This is the first time I sleep comfortably and I’m not afraid,’ he said.

‘It’s a beautiful feeling, and I hope the ceasefire continues.’

The war has devastated much of the Gaza Strip and displaced the vast majority of its population of 2.4 million.

More than 900 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Monday, the United Nations said.

The day the deal came into force, 630 trucks entered Gaza.

Qatar, which played a key role in negotiating the truce, said that 12.5 million litres of fuel would enter Gaza over the first 10 days.

Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that the death toll in the war had reached 46,913, a majority civilians, figures the United Nations has said are reliable.​

 

[Saif]

The ceasefire that couldn't heal: Reflections from a survivor

I can’t forget the days in Gaza’s hospitals—the sight of dismembered children and the cries from phosphorus burns.

www.thedailystar.net

The ceasefire that couldn't heal: Reflections from a survivor

Kamel’s family home, captured from a video of a drone passing through the sky, on January 19, 2025. PHOTO COURTESY: KAMEL ABU AMSHA

Late September 2023, I returned to Gaza from Faridpur to see my family. It was my 24th birthday. I have been studying medicine in Bangladesh, and it was the first time in four years that I visited them. A few days later, we all knew what had happened. After seven months of genocide, I left Gaza and my family behind. My story of surviving the genocide was covered by The Daily Star in May 2024. I am not one to share my sorrow or pain, but I agreed to let a journalist document what happened to me so that Israel could not achieve its final victory— erasing these atrocities from human memory.

During those weeks when I shared what I went through in Gaza, there was talk of a ceasefire, but it never seemed likely as things only worsened. I was in Gaza during a temporary truce, which was reported as a "halt in fighting," but it was a farce. We went to our house, already bombed once, to retrieve food for the camps. We left quickly as the house was bombed again during that pause.

Months passed, and I have lost 35 family members to date. I lost my cousin Jamal, who was like a brother to me. The day he was killed by Israeli airstrikes, my uncle, Jamal's father, tried to bury him in Jabalia. But the Israeli had sieged the area. Jamal's body was left with a cloth, and today, five months later, he has still not been buried. As I write this, I wonder what Jamal did in this cruel world, to not even get the chance to rest peacefully and with dignitu, even after he was killed.

My immediate family have been displaced almost daily and injured. Changes happened around the world but things remained the same in the north of Gaza: in horror. The government changed in Bangladesh, where I've been since leaving my family in Gaza. Similar to the internet blackout during the last days of the previous regime here, my family still goes without internet for five to seven days at a stretch.

On a random Wednesday, January 15, 2025, we all got the news that a ceasefire had been reached. My first reaction was an overwhelming urge to celebrate with my family, just as I had suffered the flames of war with them. Then a strange feeling overtook me. Seven months of genocide flashed across my mind like a reel. I can't forget October 7, the day I had been asleep in Gaza for just seven days before the war began. I understood nothing back then and could not, in my worst nightmare, imagine all that followed: displacement after displacement, hunger, fear, thirst, and exhaustion.

I can't forget the days in Gaza's hospitals—the sight of dismembered children and the cries from phosphorus burns. I can't forget escaping Gaza through an Israeli checkpoint, fearing every moment that I would be shot or bombed. I can't forget the bitter cold of the night we slept in an open tent, with torn clothes and no blankets. I hugged my brother just to keep warm. I can't forget returning to our first camp, Al-Falluja, where decaying corpses were everywhere.

Kamel’s nephew and father in front of the camp where they were staying in North Gaza, three weeks before the ceasefire. PHOTO COURTESY: KAMEL ABU AMSHA

The feeling of joy dissipated, and I did not believe the ceasefire would hold. Growing up in Gaza, always fearing Israeli attacks and enduring the genocide, has eroded my trust in everything. I never trusted anything the Israeli government said. They killed, destroyed, and ruined my life as I knew it. Frankly, I don't remember what my beloved city, Gaza, looked like before the war or what it felt like without the smell of death. So, how can I believe they would stop killing now?

Just days before the ceasefire, my parents were taking refuge with other stranded residents in a small room of a broken house in southern North Gaza. I could not reach my family when the ceasefire was announced, and at the time of this writing, I still haven't been able to talk to them, as they do not have internet. But I heard there was relentless shelling. Until the ceasefire came into effect on Sunday, I worried my family would not live to see it. The Israeli army indiscriminately bombed everywhere to claim more so-called "victories." We had been lucky, by God's grace, to survive so far. I always prayed but feared that luck would run out.

My cousin Sayed, who has periodic internet access and updates me on my family's whereabouts, informed me they evacuated their shelter but made it out safely.

Now that the ceasefire is in effect, people ask if I am happy. But how could anyone from Gaza, especially those who lived through the genocide, relate to the word "happiness"? The house I grew up in has been destroyed. My family takes shelter wherever they can—in rooms of houses that survived the bombings. Many residents from the North fled to the South, and when they return, my family will be homeless. The streets of North Gaza have been destroyed with such depravity that even a tent cannot be set up.

I truly believe no one can understand how terrible it is unless they see it with their own eyes. Yet still, I feel a sense of relief that the bombing has stopped, even if temporarily, and people have stopped dying—a thought that once seemed too distant. In Gaza, "peace" now means not hearing the thunderous sound of bombs, and a pause in the constant struggle for survival.

Thinking of my family's condition has made me feel like giving up, but I returned to Bangladesh alive, with the dream of becoming a doctor. I continued studying, but it was not without challenges. After returning, I would suffer severe trauma shocks. They would start with chest pain, and I would fall unconscious, on the verge of heart attacks. My roommates, who took me to the CCU, later told me I hallucinated snipers and blood. But I am one of the lucky ones. I made it out alive after seven months. For my family members and friends who lost their children and parents, the psychological trauma is immense.

News stories now focus on Israeli hostages being reunited with their families, while Palestinians are referred to as "prisoners." The Israeli army has randomly and arbitrarily arrested people. The worst day of my life was December 18 last year, during the second paper of my final medical exams. I woke up to messages from my cousin Sayed that the Israeli army had besieged the shelter where my family was in Beit Hanoun. Their neighbours were killed. My mother was injured by shrapnel while escaping.

They arrested my brothers Nahid, 21, and Mohammad, 22, my grandfather, who is over 70, and my father. None of my brothers had any affiliation with Hamas. What crime did they commit other than trying to survive? My father was released, thankfully, but my brothers and grandfather remain in an Israeli prison, enduring torture. Everyone in Gaza knows what the prisons are like—prisoners are given no place to sleep, nothing to eat, and are beaten as though they are not human beings.

I don't know why my father was released but my brothers weren't. The way the Israelis imprison Palestinians is arbitrary and ruthless. Each time I see the news, I hope to see my brothers freed before the next tragedy strikes. I don't trust the ceasefire will last or that the war will permanently end. The perpetrators' nature is betrayal.

The Israeli army told us to go to "safe zones," only to bomb them. They tricked people, even children, into death. I fled to so many such zones only to be forced to leave again. Many escaped alive—if they were lucky—while thousands died.

The hope that the US, with the transition from Biden to Trump, will make the ceasefire last does not inspire trust. The US has always supported Israel's killings, as have other powerful countries. At 25, I have lived through five flare-ups caused by the Israeli army, armed by countries that support their actions. In Gaza, the world showed no mercy to the elderly, children, women, youth, homes, streets, mosques, schools, or universities. They tried to annihilate us, but they cannot destroy our determination to not give up.

We Gazans dream that one day the sun will rise for us and never set again. Until then, we keep going, even if it means dying in the process. There may be a ceasefire now, but any form of trust that lives will be spared has ceased to exist.

When I left for Bangladesh, my father told me, "We know our fate, but you have a different fate. Go and become a doctor." Every day I wake up, I remember those words with a sinking feeling in my chest, and I go on with life. Because what else can I do? In Gaza, we are hardwired to keep going—and so, that's what we do.

Kamel Abu Amsha is a Palestinian medical student in Faridpur Medical College.​

 

[Saif]

Ceasefire in Gaza: what next?

For the second time, in the one and a half year long war of attrition unleashed by Israel, a ceasefire has come into effect from January 19, one day before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the president of United States. This time the ceasefire is broader in scope and has a longer timeframe than

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Ceasefire in Gaza: what next?
Hasnat Abdul Hye
Published :
Jan 24, 2025 21:00
Updated :
Jan 24, 2025 21:00

A member of the Palestinian Hamas police directs traffic on a street in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on January 20, 2025. Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry said Saturday in a statement that its security forces will begin deploying across the Gaza Strip as soon as the ceasefire-for-hostage release deal takes effect on January 19. Photo : Xinhua/Files

For the second time, in the one and a half year long war of attrition unleashed by Israel, a ceasefire has come into effect from January 19, one day before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the president of United States. This time the ceasefire is broader in scope and has a longer timeframe than the first one that took place for a week, from 24 November to 30 November in 2023. A total of 70 Israeli hostages were released by Hamas then, against 210 Palestinian prisoners held by Israelis. At the end of the truce on 30 November, another one day extension was agreed upon by both sides for further release of Israelis and Palestinians but the truce ended with Hamas blaming the Israelis for violation of terms of agreement.

In May, 2024, as the war in Gaza entered eight months, Egyptian and Qatari officials, working with American counterparts, worked out a ceasefire deal which was accepted by Hamas but rejected by Israel. Later, President Biden announced that Israel had agreed to a three- phase ceasefire and this time the American proposal was placed before the UN Security Council which adopted the same. But the Israeli prime minister rejected the deal and continued with the war.

On December 2, 2025, the president-elect, Donald Trump, posted in social media that hostages held by Hamas have to be released before his inauguration on January 20 or else 'all hell will break lose'. It was a very unusual statement coming from the president incumbent, using strong-arm tactics of underworld characters. It was obvious that his threat was directed at Hamas. There was gallows' humour in the threat because the Palestinians, including Hamas, were already living in hell, courtesy the devastations wrought by Israeli defence force (IDF) in Gaza.

As the interminable negotiations continued in the Qatari capital and in Cairo, representatives of the incoming Trump administration joined the Biden-era American officials. In addition, president-elect Trump sent his middle-east trouble-shooter, Steve Witcoff, to hold talks with Netanyahu and other stake-holders. It requires little imagination to conclude that the input by president elect Trump, particularly through backdoor diplomacy, using carrot and stick, pulled off the elusive ceasefire deal. Discussion on what may be embodied in the 'carrot and the stick' policy can be postponed until the terms of the present ceasefire agreement are briefly reviewed.

The present ceasefire, like the one negotiated in May last year, has three phases. During the first phase, covering six weeks from January 19, Hamas will release 33 hostages in several batches. In return, Israel will release several hundred Palestinians kept in prison, also in batches. Both sides will release children and women on priority basis. The lists of persons to be released have to be sent in advance for vetting by each side.

The second term in the agreement for the first phase provides for withdrawal of Israeli army from densely populated areas like northern Gaza and allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their former places of residence.

Under the third clause, about 600 trucks would be allowed to enter Gaza, carrying food, fuel, medicine and other essential items.

Except the second, the other two terms can be complied with by both parties without much hitch. The second is somewhat sensitive because Israeli army may regard withdrawal as surrender to Hamas. Here political leadership will play a big role. The Israeli cabinet, comprising extreme rightists, is divided over the ceasefire issue. One coalition party has already resigned from the cabinet. The second extremist party in the coalition has given notice and is bidding for time. Much depends on the political will of prime minister Netenyahu and his skill for manoeuvring. This, in turn, will depend on his motivation. If he is concerned with only saving his skin by staying in power with the help of extremists, he may renege on the ceasefire even during the first phase. But it is quite probable that he will take a chance during the first phase on this issue hoping to counter the pressure from coalition extremist parties with the release of Israelis kept as hostages for nearly a year and a half. The demand for their release has become a popular movement which none of the political parties can go on ignoring. So, the willingness of Israeli politicians, even if with reservations, can be expected to play a role in keeping the ceasefire alive and well. As regards Hamas, there is no problem for them with releasing the hostages if there is reciprocity from the Israeli side in releasing Palestinian prisoners according to agreed numbers. But their compliance with the terms of ceasefire deal will also depend on the withdrawal of Israeli army from northern Gaza.

The second phase of the ceasefire agreement gains in complexity as it envisages release of remaining Israeli hostages and of Palestinian prisoners by concerned parties, complete withdrawal of Israeli army from Gaza, including Philadelphi corridor and holding discussions on establishment of permanent peace in the region. Here again, the withdrawal of Israeli army completely from Gaza is problematic for the same reason mentioned above. The question of who will represent the Palestinians in the peace talks can become a stumbling bloc as Hamas is likely to assert its right to represent the Gazan Palestinians. The fact that there has been no popular protest against their role in the war in Gaza strengthens their case. By all appearances, the Palestinians feel proud of their patriotism and determination to resist Israeli occupation. In contrast, the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank lacks popular support for its submissive role vis-à-vis Israel and rampant corruption. America and Israel should realise that without Hamas participation in peace talks a permanent political settlement will be elusive.

During the third and final phase the remains of the dead hostages will be returned by Hamas and reconstruction of Gaza will take place. For the implementation of the first part, no problem is foreseen other than the wilful scuttling of the ceasefire deal by Israel. As regards reconstruction of Gaza, since it will take years for completion, temporary shelters for Gazans have to be provided, complete with civic and medical facilities. Several tent towns, each self-sufficient to meet the needs of its residents, have to be built in various parts of Gaza strip. Any idea of relocating the Gazans elsewhere, as is being casually bandied about now, runs into the face of reality. If not a single Gazan family tried to leave their homeland under round the clock bombing by Israelis during the past one year and a half, how can they be expected to be willing to go to another place now? The Palestinians in Gaza love their homeland and no amount of inducement or coercion will succeed in weaning them away from their soil. This should be recognised as a tribute to their sufferings, courage and fortitude. The heroism of ordinary Palestinians that has made them survivors of one of the horrifying genocide in history is of epic proportions. To ask them to move out in the name of reconstruction of Gaza would be a humiliation and agony that they do not deserve.

Now an attempt can be made to answer the question as to what led prime minister Natanyahu to accept the ceasefire deal that he had rejected in May last year. President Trump is a transactional man, having learnt the essence of deal making in his real estate business. At the heart of deal making is give and take. In the ceasefire deal not only carrots were used but also stick. Using the latter, Trump may have told Netanyahu through his emissary that unless he agreed to the deal arms shipment would be halted and his government would go along with the order of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and arrest him. But more than the stick, President Trump may have used the carrot of recognising the annexation of West Bank just as he did in the case of Golan Heights during his first term. That this is not a figment of imagination is borne out by the fact that on the first day in office as President he reversed the decision of President Biden and cancelled imposition of sanctions on 17 settlers and 16 entities in the occupied West Bank. This clearly paves the way to the annexation of West Bank, as a whole or in part, by Israel and anointing of the same by Trump administration. If Netanyahu is rewarded with this 'crown in the jewel', he can entice back the right-wing members of Knesset who have revolted over the ceasefire. The world will not have to wait for long to see if this is going to happen.

This write-up may be concluded by referring to the familiar reactions of Israeli government about the maltreatment of Israeli hostages at the hands of Hamas during their captivity. This would be a blatant lie, not substantiated by evidence. On the contrary, the smiling faces of the first three female hostages, in good health and clean clothes, prove that even under the most trying circumstances of constant bombardment and disruption of food and medicine supplies, the hostages were well looked after. The three hostages released looked cheerful and not at all indignant at their captors. They even accepted the small bag of gift given by Hamas gracefully and not perfunctorily and carried it all the way home. What better evidence can be there about the humane treatment of hostages by a group constantly being hunted down and forced to be on the run.

A ceasefire has been reached in Gaza. After a prolonged armed conflict that saw 47,000 Palestinians dead and hundreds of thousands injured and ninety per cent of infrastructures in Gaza reduced to rubbles, a window of opportunity has opened to make a clean break with the past. Whether this will happen depends largely on the goodwill of America and good sense of Israel. The Palestinians, as usual, are at the receiving end.​

 

[Bilal9]

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[Saif]

4 Israel soldiers released in Gaza; 200 Palestinians prisoners freed

A total of 200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails have been freed under the terms of a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Seventy of them will be deported to countries in the region.

www.thedailystar.net

4 Israel soldiers released in Gaza; 200 Palestinians prisoners freed

Former Palestinian prisoners released by Israel gesture as they ride in one of the buses of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC0 as it moves in the town of Beitunia near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on January 25, 2025

A total of 200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails have been freed under the terms of a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Seventy of them will be deported to countries in the region.

The release comes after Palestinian fighters freed four female Israeli soldiers who were held in Gaza.

The soldiers, who appeared to be in good condition and each carried a bag, were seen smiling as they waved to a packed crowd in Gaza City's Palestine Square.

People react as a military helicopter transporting the four newly-released Israeli hostages lands at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva on January 25, 2025. Four young women soldiers, abducted by Palestinian militants on October 7, 2023 while serving near the Gaza border, were released on January 25, following more than 15 months in captivity. Photo: AFP

Israel says it will not allow return of Palestinians to northern Gaza until an issue involving the release of captive Arbel Yehoud is resolved.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 47,283 Palestinians and wounded 111,472 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day and more than 200 taken captive.​

 

[Saif]

Hamas has added up to 15,000 fighters since start of war, US figures show

The Palestinian militant group Hamas has recruited between 10,000 and 15,000 members since the start of its war with Israel, according to two congressional sources briefed on US intelligence, suggesting the Iran-backed fighters could remain a persistent threat to Israel. The intelligence indicates

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Hamas has added up to 15,000 fighters since start of war, US figures show
REUTERS
Published :
Jan 25, 2025 18:18
Updated :
Jan 25, 2025 18:48

Palestinian fighters from the armed wing of Hamas take part in a military parade to mark the anniversary of the 2014 war with Israel, in the central Gaza Strip, July 19, 2023. Photo : REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Files

The Palestinian militant group Hamas has recruited between 10,000 and 15,000 members since the start of its war with Israel, according to two congressional sources briefed on US intelligence, suggesting the Iran-backed fighters could remain a persistent threat to Israel.

The intelligence indicates a similar number of Hamas fighters have been killed during that period, the sources said. The latest official U.S. estimates have not been previously reported.

Hamas and Israel began a ceasefire on Sunday after 15 months of a conflict that has devastated the Gaza Strip and inflamed the Middle East.

The sources briefed on the intelligence, which was included in a series of updates from US intelligence agencies in the final weeks of the Biden administration, said that while Hamas has successfully recruited new members, many are young and untrained and are being used for simple security purposes.

The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

On Jan 14, then-President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States believed Hamas had recruited almost as many fighters as it had lost in the Palestinian enclave, cautioning that this was a “recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.”

He did not provide further details about the assessment, but Israeli figures have put the total militant death toll in Gaza at around 20,000.

“Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back, Hamas militants regroup and re-emerge because there’s nothing else to fill the void,” Blinken said. Both Israel and the United States brand Hamas a terrorist group.

Asked for comment, a Hamas official said he was checking with the relevant parties in the group. Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida said in July that the group had been able to recruit thousands of new fighters.

In the days since the ceasefire, Hamas has shown itself to be deeply entrenched in Gaza despite Israel’s vow to destroy the militant group. The territory’s Hamas-run administration has moved quickly to reimpose security measures and to begin restoring basic services to parts of the enclave, much of which has been reduced to wasteland by the Israeli offensive.

Since the start of the war, American officials have not said publicly how many fighters Washington believes Hamas has lost, only noting that the group has been significantly degraded and has likely lost thousands.

WARNINGS OF A CONTINUED THREAT

US officials have issued similar warnings since Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. More than 46,000 people have been killed in the Israeli assault that followed, according to Palestinian health authorities whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

At a congressional hearing in March 2024, then-Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said that the war in Gaza would have “generational impact on terrorism” and that the crisis had already “galvanized violence by a range of actors around the world.”

Gathering exact data on Hamas is notoriously difficult because of a lack of verifiable intelligence from inside Gaza and because the group’s recruitment and training efforts are fluid. But official US figures show, opens new tab that prior to Oct 7, 2023, Hamas had anywhere between 20,000 and 25,000 fighters.

Asked on Wednesday about Blinken’s comments, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon acknowledged Hamas’ recruitment efforts but played down the threat.

“We know that Hamas recruits youngsters,” Danon said. “But even if they recruit youngsters, they don’t have the weapons or the training facilities. So basically, yes, you can incite those youngsters against Israel, but they cannot become a terrorist, because you cannot equip them with weapons or rockets.”

Following the ceasefire, Israeli troops have begun to move back from some of their positions inside Gaza. The second phase of the ceasefire deal could bring about a permanent end to the fighting.

The terms of that phase still need to be negotiated.

In his resignation speech on Tuesday, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief, said Hamas had been severely damaged and that most of the group’s military commanders had been killed. But he said the group had not been eliminated and the Israel Defense Forces would continue to fight to further dismantle Hamas.

One of the most difficult issues involved in negotiating the next phases is postwar Gaza’s governance. Some Israeli officials say they won’t accept Hamas staying in power. Hamas so far has not given ground.

Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said on Sunday that Hamas will never govern Gaza and if it reneges on the deal, Washington will support Israel “in doing what it has to do.”​

 

[Saif]

Elation in Israel as more hostages released from Gaza

Israelis celebrated on Saturday the release of four Israeli soldiers held hostages in Gaza for the past 15 months, with scenes of jubilation in Tel Aviv where crowds gathered in a public square to watch the release broadcast live on screens. The release of Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Elation in Israel as more hostages released from Gaza
REUTERS
Published :
Jan 25, 2025 22:04
Updated :
Jan 25, 2025 22:04

An Israeli military helicopter transporting released Israeli hostages, who have been held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, as part of a prisoner-hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, arrives at Beilinson Schneider complex, in Petah Tikva, Israel, January 25, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israelis celebrated on Saturday the release of four Israeli soldiers held hostages in Gaza for the past 15 months, with scenes of jubilation in Tel Aviv where crowds gathered in a public square to watch the release broadcast live on screens.

The release of Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, all aged 20, and Liri Albag, 19, comes after days of anticipation for families of hostages with Palestinian militant group Hamas only on Friday announcing who would be released.

Three hostages were released the previous weekend as part of a complex, multi-phased ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that includes the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

At the Gilboa family home in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, Daniella’s 15-year-old sister said the family never lost hope.

“We remained optimistic and we did everything to see her back here, for her return,” Noam Gilboa said, after seeing images broadcast on television of Daniella being released.

“Wow, I imagined her totally different. It brought back all the emotions I’ve had this past year,” Noam said.

Gilboa, Ariev, Levy and Albag were abducted during the Hamas-led cross-border attack Israel on Oct 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 more were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. More than 100 were released in November 2023 during a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas.

In a message on Saturay, Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote “an entire nation weeps and rejoices with you at this moment.”

The Israeli military released videos of the emotional moments when the hostages were reunited with their families. In one of the videos, Liri’s mother can be heard telling her daughter: “You are a hero, you are home, that’s it”.

But little information has been disclosed of their conditions after more than 470 days held in captivity in Gaza.

A health ministry official speaking at the Rabin Medical Centre, where the four hostages were being treated, described the moment as “emotionally and medically complex for those returning and their families, for the families of all captives”.

Ruhama Albag described a feeling of “unbelievable joy” after the release of her niece, Liri, that had brought immense relief and happiness to the family, as they celebrate Liri’s freedom.

“She’s looking wonderful, full of energy, full of vitality, waving, in peace with herself,” Ruhama said of Liri.

“We won’t rest for a moment until everyone (all hostages) is back. And this moment can’t be described, it is pure joy,” she said, referring to the more than 80 hostages still held in Gaza.

While there was elation across Israel the mood was dampened by the absence of a female civilian hostage who many expected would be freed. Arbel Yehud, 29, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct 7, 2023, alongside her boyfriend.

Hamas said Yehud would be released next week.​

 

[Saif]

Trump floats plan to ‘just clean out’ Gaza

US president Donald Trump floated a plan Saturday to ‘just clean out’ Gaza, and said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take Palestinians from the territory in a bid to create Middle East peace.

www.newagebd.net

Trump floats plan to ‘just clean out’ Gaza
Agence France-Presse . Miami 26 January, 2025, 22:46

US president Donald Trump

US president Donald Trump floated a plan Saturday to ‘just clean out’ Gaza, and said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take Palestinians from the territory in a bid to create Middle East peace.

Describing Gaza as a ‘demolition site’ after the Israel-Hamas war, Trump said he had spoken to Jordan’s King Abdullah II about the issue and expected to talk to Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.

‘I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

‘You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts that site. And I don’t know, something has to happen.’

The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, by the war that began with Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Trump said moving Gaza’s inhabitants could be ‘temporarily or could be long term.’

‘It’s literally a demolition site right now, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there,’ added Trump.

‘So I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.’

A fragile truce and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas — which was signed on the last day of former US president Joe Biden’s administration but which Trump has claimed credit for — has entered its second week.

Trump’s new administration has promised ‘unwavering support’ for Israel, without yet laying out details of its Middle East policy.

Trump confirmed on Saturday that he had ordered the Pentagon to release a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs for Israel which was blocked by his predecessor Biden.

‘We released them. We released them today,’ Trump said. ‘They paid for them and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time.’

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has left much of the Palestinian territory in ruins, with infrastructure destroyed, and the United Nations estimates reconstruction will take many years.

In October during his presidential campaign, former real estate developer Trump said that war-torn Gaza could be ‘better than Monaco’ if it was ‘rebuilt the right way.’

Trump’s son-in-law and former White House employee Jared Kushner suggested in February that Israel empty Gaza of civilians to unlock the potential of its ‘waterfront property.’

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the ‘Nakba’ or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation 75 years ago.

Israel has denied having any plans to force Gazans to move.

But some extreme-right members of the Israeli government have publicly supported the idea of Gazans leaving the Palestinian territory en masse.​

 

[Saif]

Displaced Gazans mass at Israeli barrier waiting to reach north

A vast crowd of Gazans massed near an Israeli military barrier preventing them from heading to their homes in the north on Sunday amid a row between Hamas and Israel over the terms of their ceasefire deal....

www.newagebd.net

Displaced Gazans mass at Israeli barrier waiting to reach north
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 26 January, 2025, 20:41

This aerial photo shows displaced Gazans gathering in an area in Nuseirat on Sunday, to return to their homes in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. | AFP photo

A vast crowd of Gazans massed near an Israeli military barrier preventing them from heading to their homes in the north on Sunday amid a row between Hamas and Israel over the terms of their ceasefire deal.

Aerial footage from AFPTV showed the crowd fanning out for hundreds of metres from a junction on a coastal road in the Nuseirat area and spilling onto a nearby beach.

Dotted among the crowd were water tankers, ambulances, donkey carts, TV crews and their vehicles, and dozens of tents in which displaced Gazans sat and waited for permission to continue their journey.

AFP journalists at the scene said the mass of people stretched for three kilometres along Al-Rashid Road, with Gaza police preventing civilians from getting close to the Israelis, whose jets and drones flew overhead.

Dozens of displaced people camped in the garden of a bombed-out villa, some of them milling around in its empty swimming pool.

Whole families sat on the side of the road waiting for news, their belongings bundled up in blankets or crammed into overstuffed backpacks.

Saeed Abu Sharia, 49, said he arrived on Saturday night and slept outside while his wife, mother and children stayed in his car for warmth.

‘I burned the tent last night because it was a symbol of misery and humiliation,’ he said.

Fifty of his relatives were killed in the 15-month war, said Abu Sharia, whose home was also destroyed.

A few kilometres inland, hundreds of Palestinian families were waiting next to their cars in a long traffic jam on Salah al-Din Street, with everything they owned piled in great mounds atop their vehicles and strapped down tight.

‘Tens of thousands of displaced people are waiting near the Netzarim Corridor to return to the northern Gaza Strip,’ Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said, with Israel refusing to allow them through in a dispute over a hostage release.

Ismail al-Thawabtah, director general of the government media office in Hamas-run Gaza, also said there were tens of thousands waiting at the junction.

He put the total number of Gazans wanting to return to the north at ‘between 6,15,000 and 6,50,000’, with two-thirds of them likely to use the coastal road.

The Netzarim Corridor is a seven-kilometre strip of land militarised by Israel that bisects the Gaza Strip from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea. The corridor cuts off the north from the rest of the territory.

Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire, which began a week ago.

As part of the deal, Israel was due to let displaced Gazans cross the corridor and return to their homes, with Hamas officials saying this would happen on Saturday.

Israel, however, accused Hamas of reneging on the deal by not releasing hostage Arbel Yehud on Saturday. Yehud was one the 251 hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

As a civilian woman, Yehud ‘was supposed to be released’ as part of the second hostage-prisoner swap under the truce deal, a statement from the office of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

‘Israel will not allow the passage of Gazans to the northern part of the Gaza Strip until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud is arranged,’ it added.

Two Hamas sources said on Saturday that Yehud was ‘alive and in good health’, with one source saying she would be ‘released as part of the third swap set for next Saturday’, on February 1.

Hamas on Sunday said Israel blocking returns to the north amounted to a truce violation, adding it has provided ‘all the necessary guarantees’ for Yehud’s release.

On the other side of the corridor in north Gaza was Bashar Naser, a 28-year-old from Jabalia, who had been waiting for his relatives since early morning.

‘We want to welcome them and celebrate this is a great joy.’​

 

[Saif]

One hopes Gaza deal will not be temporary

Israel's government has approved the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, paving the way for it to take effect one day before Trump took up his Office as the new President of the United States of America. The decision came after hours of discussions that continued late into the night

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

One hopes Gaza deal will not be temporary
Muhammad Zamir
Published :
Jan 26, 2025 22:07
Updated :
Jan 26, 2025 22:07

People gather around a truck loaded with humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip City of Rafah, on January 19, 2025 Photo : Xinhua

Israel's government has approved the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, paving the way for it to take effect one day before Trump took up his Office as the new President of the United States of America. The decision came after hours of discussions that continued late into the night. Two far-right ministers voted against the deal. The security cabinet earlier recommended ratifying the agreement, saying it "supports the achievement of the objectives of the war", according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. It came hours after the Israel Prime Minister's office and Hamas said they had finalised the details of the agreement. Two days later, it was announced by mediators-- Qatar, the US and Egypt.

David Gritten of the BBC reported that under the deal, 33 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza after 15 months of conflict would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails during the first phase lasting six weeks. Qatar has said the hostages to be released during the first phase will include "civilian women, female soldiers, children, the elderly, and sick and wounded civilians".

Israeli forces will also withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza, displaced Palestinians will be allowed to begin returning to their 'homes', and hundreds of aid lorries will be allowed into the territory each day. Israel has also indicated that three hostages are expected to be released on the first day of the ceasefire, with more small groups to be freed at regular intervals over the next six weeks.

Negotiations for the second phase -- which should see the remaining hostages released, a full Israeli troop withdrawal and "the restoration of sustainable calm"-- will start on the 16th day.

The third and final stage will involve the reconstruction of Gaza, something which could take years, and the return of any remaining hostages.

Analysts have, however, clearly observed that the world will very carefully monitor the evolving scenario. Some have also noted that peace is something that the world wants and the world is hoping that the evolving scenario will bring back hope for the areas devastated through cross-border attacks that resulted from what Hamas did on October 7, 2023.

More than 46,870 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Most of the 2.3 million population has also been displaced. There has also been widespread destruction in Gaza. Observers and analysts along with the media have also reported that there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter due to a struggle to reach aid to those in need.

At the time of agreeing to the ceasefire, Israel observed that 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are presumed dead. In addition, there are four Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead. Ahead of the Israeli government's vote on the deal, the Culture Minister Miki Zohar of Netanyahu's Likud party said, "It is a very hard decision, but we decided to support it because it is very important to us to see all of our children, men and women back home."

However, certain sections of Israel's political paradigm, particularly, the far-right National Security Party and the Religious Zionism Party, still want the war to restart, if possible, after the first phase ends.

On January 17, Israeli Justice Ministry published a list of 95 Palestinian prisoners which it said would be part of the first group to be freed in exchange for hostages. They comprised 69 women, 16 men and 10 minors, according to AFP.

The same day also witnessed a meeting held in Cairo to discuss mechanisms for implementing the deal. All necessary arrangements were agreed, including the formation of a joint operations room to ensure compliance that would include Egyptian, Qatari, US, Palestinian and Israeli representatives. Egyptian state-run Al-Qahera News TV has also mentioned a source as saying that they had agreed on facilitating the entry of 600 aid lorries per day during the ceasefire. That would require a more than 14-fold increase from January's UN-reported daily average of 43 lorries. However, Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organisation's Gaza Representative has observed that "the possibility is very much there" if the Rafah crossing with Egypt and other crossings are opened. The WHO apparently, also plans to deliver a number of prefabricated hospitals to support the devastated healthcare sector. Such support is urgently required because a survey has indicated that half of Gaza's 36 hospitals are not functional, while the others are only partially functional.

It would be interesting to note here how some important world leaders have reacted to the announcement of this Truce Agreement.

Former US President Joe Biden, after the Agreement, observed from the White House that "fighting in Gaza will stop, and soon the hostages will return home to their families".

US President-elect Donald Trump also remarked, "We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly." Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "With this deal in place, my National Security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza never again becomes a terrorist safe haven," Trump said in a second post. It may also be added that several Israeli media reports have indicated that Trump was decisive in getting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the pact, which will lead to the release of Israeli captives in Gaza as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. It may be recalled that Trump sent his envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with mediators in Qatar and Netanyahu in Israel before the Agreement. The media has confirmed that that Witkoff apparently pushed Netanyahu to accept the agreement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has told reporters that the UN was ready to back the deal and "scale up the delivery of sustained humanitarian relief to the countless Palestinians who continue to suffer".

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has told reporters in Ankara that the ceasefire deal was an important step for regional stability. He also said that Turkish efforts for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would continue. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has called for calm to assist and facilitate the post ceasefire deal scenario in the Gaza Strip after the ceasefire deal takes effect. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in a post on X has welcomed the Gaza ceasefire deal and stressed the importance of a fast delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission has "warmly" welcomed the ceasefire agreement and has observed that now "hostages will be reunited with their loved ones and humanitarian aid can reach civilians in Gaza. This brings hope to an entire region, where people have endured immense suffering for far too long. Both parties must fully implement this agreement, as a stepping stone toward lasting stability in the region and a diplomatic resolution of the conflict." British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in an emailed statement has observed, "After months of devastating bloodshed and countless lives lost, this is the long-overdue news that the Israeli and Palestinian people have desperately been waiting for." Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere has correctly insisted on the need to strengthen Palestinian institutions in order for them to be able to "assume full control and responsibility, including in Gaza".

Strategists have indicated that Netanyahu may be able to capitalise on the public sentiment and even present himself as the one who ended the war and achieved several strategic goals before any new elections, earning himself another stay of political execution. Nevertheless, analysts have noted that many within the Israeli society have noted that there is also another connotation.

Many within Israel as well as their supporters have noted that the Israeli government, internationally, has also earned a marker for having carried on with a war that numerous civil and human rights groups from different parts of the world have characterised as genocide. This indirectly has led to Israel's growing international isolation

Such a scenario has led to Eugene Kandel and Ron Tzur suggesting that given the divisions produced by the country's war on Gaza and attempts by Netanyahu's government to keep itself way from judicial oversight might lead to "the likelihood that Israel will not be able to exist as a sovereign Jewish state in the coming decades." Interestingly, Dr Guy Shalev, the Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights Israel, has observed that the denial of medical aid and torture of Palestinians has "definitely been a moral corruption within Israel." Shalev also added. "I think that fundamentally, if Palestinian lives don't matter, then eventually all lives matter less."

One needs to conclude by referring to a significant geo-strategic observation made by analysts Jeffrey Sachs and Sybil Fares. Both feel that the United Nations, on its 80th birthday in 2025, can mark the occasion by securing a lasting solution to the conflict in the Middle East, by welcoming the State of Palestine as the 194th UN member state.

A very good suggestion. The upcoming UN Conference on Palestine, set for June 2025, can be a turning point - a decisive, irreversible path towards peace in the Middle East. The Trump Administration would thereby greatly serve America's interests, and the world's, by championing the Two-State solution and a comprehensive Middle East peace deal, at the gathering in New York in June.

A new US foreign policy is needed in the Middle East - one that brings about peace rather than endless war. As mandated by the International Court of Justice, and as demonstrated through the UN General Assembly, the G20, BRICS, League of Arab States, the overwhelming majority of the world favours the Two-State solution.

Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador, is an analyst specialised in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance.​

 

[Saif]

Microsoft provided tech support to Israeli army in Gaza war

A joint investigation has revealed the extensive collaboration between Microsoft and the Israeli military, highlighting the deep integration of the tech giant’s cloud and AI services in military operations.

www.thedailystar.net

Microsoft provided tech support to Israeli army in Gaza war

A joint investigation has revealed the extensive collaboration between Microsoft and the Israeli military, highlighting the deep integration of the tech giant's cloud and AI services in military operations. The investigation, conducted by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian, is based on leaked documents from Israel's Defence Ministry and Microsoft's Israeli subsidiary. It sheds light on the increasing reliance of the Israeli military on civilian tech giants since the escalation of the Gaza war in October 2023.

The documents indicate that Microsoft's Azure cloud platform and artificial intelligence tools have been widely adopted by various units within the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), including the Air Force, Navy, and elite intelligence units such as Unit 8200. Among the tools provided are OpenAI's GPT-4 language model, speech-to-text software, and document analysis systems. Since the conflict began, the military's use of these AI services has surged dramatically, with consumption reportedly increasing 64 times by March 2024.

Specific military units using Microsoft's services include the Air Force's Ofek Unit, responsible for managing databases of potential airstrike targets, and Unit 81, which develops surveillance technologies. Additionally, Microsoft's cloud infrastructure supports the "Rolling Stone" system, which tracks population movements in the West Bank and Gaza. The leaked files also suggest that some systems are "air-gapped," operating independently from the internet and public networks, indicating their potential use in combat and intelligence rather than administrative functions.

As per the report, Microsoft personnel have embedded with military units to assist with the development and implementation of these technologies. The documents reveal that the Israeli Defence Ministry has spent millions on engineering support and private workshops provided by Microsoft experts, who were closely involved in developing surveillance systems and other tools.

The investigation also highlights changes in OpenAI's policies. Before 2024, OpenAI's terms prohibited the use of its technology for military purposes. However, the company quietly removed this clause and expanded its partnerships with military and intelligence agencies, coinciding with the Israeli army's intensified use of GPT-4 during the Gaza conflict. OpenAI has denied having a direct partnership with the IDF, while Microsoft has declined to comment on the investigation.

This collaboration is part of a broader trend of integrating civilian cloud services into Israeli military operations. In a lecture last July, a senior IDF officer acknowledged that the military's operational capabilities had been significantly enhanced by the adoption of cloud computing and AI technologies. She described the services provided by companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon as pivotal in overcoming resource shortages during the war.

The report shows the growing entanglement between the tech industry and military operations, raising questions about the ethical and legal implications of such partnerships in conflict zones. You can find the full report by +972 Magazine here and by The Guardian here.​

 

[Saif]

Palestinians return to north Gaza

Masses of displaced Palestinians began streaming towards the north of the war-battered Gaza Strip on Monday after Israel and Hamas said they had reached a deal for the release of another six hostages...

www.newagebd.net

Palestinians return to north Gaza
Agence France-Presse . Palestinian Territories 27 January, 2025, 23:40

Masses of displaced Palestinians began streaming towards the north of the war-battered Gaza Strip on Monday after Israel and Hamas said they had reached a deal for the release of another six hostages.

The breakthrough preserves a fragile ceasefire and paves the way for more hostage-prisoner swaps under an agreement aimed at ending the more than 15-month conflict, which has devastated the Gaza Strip and displaced nearly all its residents.

Israel had been preventing Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the terms of the truce, but prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late Sunday they would be allowed to pass after the new deal was reached.

Crowds began making their way north along a coastal road on foot Monday morning, carrying what belongings they could, AFPTV images showed.

‘This is the happiest day of my life,’ said Lamees al-Iwady, a 22-year-old who returned to Gaza City on Monday after being displaced several times.

‘I feel as though my soul and life have returned to me,’ she said. ‘We will rebuild our homes, even if it’s with mud and sand.’

A Gaza security official said that ‘more than 2,00,000 displaced people have returned to Gaza and North Gaza’ in the first two hours of the day.

With the joy of return came the shock of the extent of the destruction wrought by more than a year of war.

According to the Hamas-run government media office, 1,35,000 tents and caravans are needed in Gaza City and the north to shelter returning families. Still, Hamas called the return ‘a victory’ for Palestinians that ‘signals the failure and defeat of the plans for occupation and displacement’.

The comments came after US president Donald Trump floated an idea to ‘clean out’ Gaza and resettle Palestinians in Jordan and Egypt, drawing condemnation from regional leaders.

President Mahmud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, issued a ‘strong rejection and condemnation of any projects’ aimed at displacing Palestinians from Gaza, his office said.

Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said that Palestinians would ‘foil such projects’, as they have done to similar plans ‘for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades’.

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the ‘Nakba’, or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.

‘We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens,’ said displaced Gaza resident Rashad al-Naji.

Trump had floated the idea to reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One: ‘You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing.’

Moving Gaza’s roughly 2.4 million inhabitants could be done ‘temporarily or could be long term’, he said.

Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich — who opposed the truce and has voiced support for re-establishing Israeli settlements in Gaza — called Trump’s suggestion ‘a great idea’.

The Arab League rejected the idea, warning against ‘attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land’, saying their forced displacement could ‘only be called ethnic cleansing’.

Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi said ‘our rejection of the displacement of Palestinians is firm and will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians.’

Egypt’s foreign ministry said it rejected any infringement of Palestinians’ ‘inalienable rights’.

Israel had said it would prevent Palestinians’ passage to the north until the release of Arbel Yehud, a civilian woman hostage who it maintained should have been freed on Saturday.

But Netanyahu’s office later said a deal had been reached for the release of three hostages on Thursday, including Yehud, as well as another three on Saturday.

Hamas confirmed the agreement in its own statement Monday.

During the first phase of the Gaza truce, 33 hostages are supposed to be freed in staggered releases over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held by the Israelis.

The most recent swap saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, and 200 prisoners, nearly all Palestinian, released Saturday in the second such exchange during the fragile truce entering its second week.

‘We want the agreement to continue and for them to bring our children back as quickly as possible — and all at once,’ said Dani Miran, whose hostage son Omri is not slated for release during the first phase.

The truce has brought a surge of food, fuel, medicines and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, but the UN says ‘the humanitarian situation remains dire’.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, 87 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

The Hamas attack, which ignited the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,306 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.​

 

[Saif]

New backlash over Trump plan to move people out of Gaza

After the ceasefire came into force, Trump touted a plan to "clean out" the Gaza Strip, reiterating the idea on Monday he called for Palestinians to move to "safer" locations such as Egypt or Jordan

en.prothomalo.com

New backlash over Trump plan to move people out of Gaza
AFP
Jerusalem
Published: 28 Jan 2025, 22: 18

US President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room flanked by Masayoshi Son (2R), Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp, Larry Ellison (2L), Executive Charmain Oracle and Sam Altman (R), CEO of Open AI at the White House on 21 January, 2025, in Washington, DC AFP

An idea floated by US President Donald Trump to move Gazans to Egypt or Jordan faced a renewed backlash Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Gazans displaced by the Israel-Hamas war returned to their devastated neighbourhoods.

A fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal took effect earlier this month, intended to end more than 15 months of war that began with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

After the ceasefire came into force, Trump touted a plan to "clean out" the Gaza Strip, reiterating the idea on Monday as he called for Palestinians to move to "safer" locations such as Egypt or Jordan.

The US president, who has repeatedly claimed credit for sealing the truce deal after months of fruitless negotiations, also said he would meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington "very soon".

Jordan, which has a tumultuous history with Palestinian movements, on Tuesday renewed its rejection of Trump's proposal.

"We emphasise that Jordan's national security dictates that the Palestinians must remain on their land and that the Palestinian people must not be subjected to any kind of forced displacement whatsoever," Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Momani said.

Qatar, which played a leading role in the truce mediation, on Tuesday said that it often did not see "eye to eye" with its allies, including the United States.

"Our position has always been clear to the necessity of the Palestinian people receiving their rights, and that the two-state solution is the only path forward," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.

Following reports that Trump had spoken with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the weekend, Cairo said there had been no such phone call.

"A senior official source denied what some media outlets reported about a phone call between the Egyptian and American presidents," Egypt's state information service said.

On Monday, Trump reportedly said the pair had spoken, saying of Sisi: "I wish he would take some (Palestinians)."

After Trump first floated the idea, Egypt rejected the forced displacement of Gazans, expressing its "continued support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land".

'No matter what'

France, another US ally, on Tuesday said any forced displacement of Gazans would be "unacceptable".

It would also be a "destabilisation factor (for) our close allies Egypt and Jordan", a French foreign ministry spokesman said.

Moving Gaza's 2.4 million people could be done "temporarily or could be long term", Trump said on Saturday.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he was working with the prime minister "to prepare an operational plan to ensure that President Trump's vision is realised".

Smotrich, who opposed the ceasefire deal, did not provide any details on the purported plan.

For Palestinians, any attempts to force them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba", or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.

"We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens," said displaced Gazan Rashad al-Naji.

Almost all of the Gaza Strip's inhabitants were displaced at least once by the war that has levelled much of the Palestinian territory.

The ceasefire hinges on the release during a first phase of 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

On Monday, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said eight of the hostages due for release in the first phase are dead.

Since the truce began on 19 January, seven Israeli women have been freed, as have about 290 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

On Monday, after Hamas and Israel agreed over the release of six hostages this week, "more than 300,000 displaced" Gazans were able to return to the north, according to the Hamas government media office.

"I'm happy to be back at my home," said Saif Al-Din Qazaat, who returned to northern Gaza but had to sleep in a tent next to the ruins of his destroyed house.

"I kept a fire burning all night near the kids to keep them warm... (they) slept peacefully despite the cold, but we don't have enough blankets," the 41-year-old told AFP.

Under the rubble

Hamas's 7-October attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

During the attack, militants took into Gaza 251 hostages. Eighty-seven remain in the territory, including dozens Israel says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

"In terms of the death toll, yes, we do have confidence. But let's not forget, the official death toll given by the Ministry of Health, is deaths accounted in morgues and in hospitals, so in official facilities," World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday.

"As people go back to their houses, as they will start looking for their loved ones under the rubble, this casualty figure is expected to increase," he added.​

 

[Saif]

Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostage release: Hamas

Two Hamas officials on Wednesday accused Israel of delaying the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza, as agreed in the ceasefire deal, and warned that it could impact the release of hostages...

www.newagebd.net

Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostage release: Hamas
Agence France-Presse . Cairo 30 January, 2025, 00:40

Two Hamas officials on Wednesday accused Israel of delaying the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza, as agreed in the ceasefire deal, and warned that it could impact the release of hostages.

‘We warn that continued delays and failure to address these points delivery of key aid will affect the natural progression of the agreement, including the prisoner exchange,’ a senior Hamas official said.

Another official said the group had asked mediators to intervene in the issue.

Hamas officials said Israel was failing to send key aid items — such as fuel, tents, heavy machinery and other equipment — into the Gaza Strip, as agreed for the first stage of the ceasefire that took effect on January 19.

‘According to the agreement, these materials were supposed to enter during the first week of the ceasefire,’ the senior Hamas official said.

‘There is dissatisfaction among the resistance factions due to the occupation’s procrastination and failure to implement the terms of the ceasefire, particularly regarding the humanitarian aspects.’

The two officials said the group raised the issue during an on-going meeting with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Wednesday.

‘We hope and call on the mediators and guarantors to do everything possible to ensure that the occupation implements the terms of the agreement and allows the entry of these materials,’ the senior official said. The latest warning by Hamas comes as the group is expected to release three hostages on Thursday, including two women.

A further three hostages are set to be released on Saturday.

Israel and Hamas are currently implementing the first 42-day phase of a ceasefire that aims to end the war in Gaza.

Under the deal, seven Israeli hostages have already been released in exchange for 290 prisoners — almost all of them Palestinian, except for one Jordanian.​