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

  • Thread starter Thread starter Saif
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 563
  • Views Views 8K
[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?
563
8K
More threads by Saif

G Bangladesh Defense Forum

Hamas says Israel’s claim on hostages’ handover ceremony is pretext to evade its obligations
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 23, 2025 16:29
Updated :
Feb 23, 2025 16:29

1740358660834.png

Palestinian Hamas militants stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages, including those held in Gaza since the deadly October 7 2023 attack, to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 22, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Hatem Khaled/Files

Hamas on Sunday condemned Israel’s decision to postpone the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, saying its claim that the hostages’ handover ceremonies are “humiliating” was false and a pretext to evade Israel’s obligations under the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu’s decision reflects a deliberate attempt to disrupt the agreement, represents a clear violation of its terms, and shows the occupation’s lack of reliability in implementing its obligations,” Ezzat El Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said in a statement.

Israel said earlier it was delaying the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners it had planned to free the day before until Hamas met its conditions, underscoring the fragility of the Gaza ceasefire accord.

Netanyahu’s office released a statement in the early hours of Sunday saying that Israel was waiting to deliver the 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies.”

Hamas’ El Rashq said the ceremonies do not include any insult to the hostages, “but rather reflect the humane and dignified treatment of them”, adding that the “real insult” is what the Palestinian prisoners are subjected to during the release process.

The Palestinian militant group official cited the hands’ tying of the Palestinian prisoners and detainees and their blindfolding and threatening them not to hold any celebrations for their release as examples of their humiliation at the hands of Israeli authorities.

Hamas has made hostages appear on stage in front of crowds and sometimes speak before they were handed over. Coffins with hostage remains have also been carried through crowds.

Israel’s announcement, which also accused Hamas of repeatedly violating the month-old ceasefire, came after the Palestinian militant group on Saturday handed over six hostages from Gaza as part of an exchange arranged under the truce.

Hamas freed six hostages from Gaza on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

The six hostages freed on Saturday were the last living Israeli captives due to be handed over during the first phase of the ceasefire. The bodies of four dead Israeli hostages were to be released next week.​
 

Gaza ceasefire faces hurdle but not collapsing yet: analysts
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 25 February, 2025, 22:49

1740530596497.png

Displaced Palestinians carry some belongings as they walk to safer areas amid a weeks-long offensive of the Israeli military at the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. | AFP photo

Gaza’s fragile five-week truce faces a major hurdle with Israel’s refusal to release Palestinian prisoners, but analysts say the ceasefire is likely to hold as Washington pushes for its extension.

‘It’s actually the most complicated crisis since the beginning of the ceasefire,’ Palestinian affairs expert Michael Milshtein of Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Centre said.

While previous obstacles have tested the truce — including Hamas’s threat to stop releasing hostages over alleged violations of the ceasefire including insufficient aid entering Gaza — Milshtein emphasised that ‘this time, it is even more complicated.’

On Saturday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, after militants freed six hostages.

He condemned what he described as ‘humiliating ceremonies’ by Hamas to free hostages in Gaza.

Palestinian militants had in the weeks prior paraded Israeli captives and later displayed black coffins containing deceased hostages on stage, sparking outrage across Israel.

Netanyahu went further on Sunday, warning that Israel was ready to ‘resume intense fighting at any moment’ in the Palestinian territory.

Hamas, in turn, warned that Israel’s decision jeopardises the ‘entire agreement’, stopping short of promising a return to fighting.

Yet, despite the escalating rhetoric, both sides appear intent on maintaining the ceasefire, according to Milshtein.

‘Hamas really wants to implement phase one of the deal because on Saturday, the IDF military is meant to start leaving the Philadelphi Corridor,’ he noted, referring to a strategic strip that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt.

For Israel, Mairav Zonszein, an analyst from the International Crisis Group, said that Netanyahu was also stuck ‘in the same quagmire of trying to get hostages out while trying to get rid of the people holding those hostages’.

‘I think Netanyahu is kind of doing what he does best, which is dragging things out, buying time, trying to see if he can leverage withholding these prisoners,’ she said.

Zonszein noted that Israeli public opinion is putting pressure on Netanyahu to uphold the ceasefire, particularly as more hostages are seen ‘coming out alive’.

Some analysts suggest that Israel’s tougher stance is a calculated negotiating tactic ahead of upcoming talks for the second phase of truce.

‘I don’t think the ceasefire will collapse, it’s not in Netanyahu’s interest to have it collapse particularly as hostages are still being held in Gaza,’ said Sanam Vakil, director of UK-based think tank Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program.

‘What we are witnessing now is political hardball, with them Israel trying to up the ante, or increase pressure on Hamas’ ahead of the next phase, she said.

Phase two was ‘always going to be the hardest phase of the negotiations, made worse by the US position and posturing and by the fact there is no coherent Arab plan,’ she said.

Trump has stirred controversy by openly suggesting that the United States should take control of Gaza and expel its 2.4 million inhabitants to Egypt and Jordan.

But in recent days he has toned down his view and on Wednesday his special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to arrive in Israel to push forward the phase two talks.

‘I think the key to this is the Americans, they will determine what takes place next,’ said Alan Mendoza, executive director of the UK-based Henry Jackson Society.

‘Trump was the main factor in getting Netanyahu to agree to ceasefire,’ he said, noting that the deal was on the table previously but ‘Trump pushed it and both the Israelis and Hamas have agreed to its terms.’

Despite Israel demanding Gaza be completely demilitarised and Hamas removed, while the militant group insisting on remaining in the territory after the war, Mendoza said that if Trump throws his weight behind phase two ‘then it will happen.’

‘It’s a tough negotiation round and the odds are we will not be able to agree on a stage two plan but if the Arab states buck up… and take more of an interest given Trump’s Gaza Riveria plans — there’s a possibility we could do it.’​
 

Hamas to hand over four Israeli hostages’ bodies
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 26 February, 2025, 21:32

1740616057354.png


A woman carries bags as she walks on rubble at the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees near Tulkarem, where Israeli forces allowed residents to retrieve belongings after issuing reported demolition notifications for several houses, amid a weeks-long offensive in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday. | AFP photo

Hamas will hand over the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday in what it said would be an exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners, capping the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal.

The United States said talks were on track for a second phase of the ceasefire deal that has largely held but whose complexity and long-drawn-out implementation have highlighted its fragility.

In Israel on Wednesday, thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral of Shiri Bibas and her sons, who were killed in captivity in Gaza and had become symbols of the country’s hostage ordeal.

The ceasefire has largely halted the Israel-Hamas war sparked by the October 7, 2023 attack, and has seen 25 hostages released alive so far in exchange for hundreds of prisoners.

‘Mediators have informed Hamas that the (hostage-prisoner) exchange will take place on Thursday... Hamas and other resistance factions will hand over four bodies of Israeli captives, and in return, Israel will release more than 600 Palestinian detainees,’ a Hamas official told AFP.

Another senior Hamas official said the ‘exchange will happen simultaneously’.

Israel has reached an agreement with mediators for the return of the bodies of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump’s top envoy on the Middle East said Israeli representatives were en route to talks on the next phase of the ceasefire deal.

‘We’re making a lot of progress. Israel is sending a team right now as we speak,’ Steve Witkoff told an event for the American Jewish Committee.

‘It’s either going to be in Doha or in Cairo, where negotiations will begin again with the Egyptians and the Qataris,’ he said.

This first phase is supposed to end on Saturday, but negotiations planned for the rest of the process—which were to begin in early February—have not yet started.

Hamas has said it is ready to release all the remaining hostages ‘in one go’ during the second phase.

On Sunday, the group accused Israel of endangering the Gaza truce by delaying the release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel said it had concerns over how the hostages have been freed, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing the handovers as ‘humiliating ceremonies’.

Israel has yet to comment on whether it will release more than 600 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday.

Minute’s silence -

The Israeli parliament held a minute of silence to mourn the deaths of three members of the Bibas family, as well as other victims of the October 2023 attack on Israel.

‘Yesterday, the funeral of Oded Lifshitz took place; today, the funeral of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas is taking place. We remember all the victims of October 7. We remember, and we will not forget,’ said speaker Amir Ohana.

Since the ceasefire took effect on January 19, Hamas has released 25 living hostages in public ceremonies across Gaza, where masked, armed fighters have escorted the captives onto stages covered in slogans.

Israel has released more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has urged all parties to carry out prisoner and hostage swaps ‘in a dignified and private manner’.

In Israel, the prisoners are largely viewed as ‘terrorists’ for the violent attacks they have carried out against civilians and security forces.

For Palestinians, however, the releases are viewed as long-delayed justice for prisoners regarded as symbols of resistance against Israeli occupation.

The two sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire, but it has so far largely held.

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after its 2023 attack, the deadliest in the country’s history, and has made bringing back all hostages seized that day a central war aim.

The attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures that the United Nations considers credible.

Bibas family funeral -

In Israel, thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral procession of Shiri Bibas and her sons Kfir and Ariel.

‘Shiri, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all,’ freed Israeli hostage Yarden Bibas said in his eulogy at the funeral of his wife and two sons.

The Israeli national anthem was played as the funeral convoy passed through the crowd of mourners in the central city of Rishon LeZion, where the remains of the three hostages had been prepared for burial.

‘The Bibas family, I think, is like the symbol of everything that happened to us since October 7,’ said retired teacher Ayala Schlesinger Avidov, 72, visibly emotional as she spoke to AFP.

‘The two babies and the mother that did nothing to the world and were murdered in cold blood.’​
 

Start talks for next phase of Gaza truce
Hamas calls on Israel after prisoner exchange

Hamas yesterday called on Israel to enter negotiations for the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire after the group handed over the bodies of four hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The swap, undertaken under cover of night, was the last in an initial series agreed under the terms of the fragile truce, which took effect on January 19 and largely halted the war in Gaza.

Under the first phase of the deal, Hamas freed 25 living hostages and returned to Israel the bodies of eight others, some of them dual nationals.

Israel, in return, was expected to free around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, among them women and minors, in staggered releases.

Netanyahu instructs his delegation to depart for Cairo to continue truce talks

The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said Israel had freed 596 prisoners in exchange for the bodies yesterday.

It said 46 prisoners were yet to be released to complete the swap -- "all women and minors from Gaza" who were arrested after the war began.

Negotiations for a second phase of the deal, which is meant to lead to a permanent end to the war, have yet to begin.

"We have cut off the path before the enemy's false justifications, and it has no choice but to start negotiations for the second phase," Hamas said on Telegram.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday instructed his negotiation delegation to depart for Cairo yesterday to continue Gaza ceasefire talks, his office said.​
 

Trump shares bizarre AI video of a rebuilt Gaza with Musk, Netanyahu
Trump shares AI video of rebuilt Gaza

1740788693859.png

Collage made with grabs from the video/Collected

US President Donald Trump's official social media accounts posted an apparently AI-generated video depicting war-ravaged Gaza rebuilt into a seaside resort, replete with a towering golden statue of himself.

The video, which racked up more than 29 million views on Instagram and was shared thousands of times on Trump's Truth Social network by Wednesday afternoon, prompted some commenters to question whether the president's accounts had been hacked.

Google News LinkFor all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
The 33-second clip remained on Trump's accounts without denial or retraction hours after the initial posting on Tuesday night.

The video "Gaza 2025 What's Next?" opens with people on a rubble-strewn street emerging from a tunnel onto a beach with palm trees and yachts.

Trump has floated the idea of a US takeover of Gaza under which its Palestinian population would be relocated -- a proposal met with global condemnation.

He later appeared to soften his plan, saying he was only recommending the idea, and conceding that the leaders of Jordan and Egypt -- the proposed destinations for relocated Gazans -- had rejected any effort to move Palestinians against their will.

In the social media clip, the soundtrack includes lyrics such as "Donald's coming to set you free, bringing the light for all to see", and "Feast and dance, the deal is done, Trump Gaza number one".

Seemingly AI-generated renditions of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sip cocktails in swimsuits by a pool, while other shots show what appears to be Elon Musk dancing under a shower of cash on the beach.

A larger-than-life golden statue of Trump is also featured.

Social media users reacted with both support and criticism, but many questioned whether Trump himself had posted the montage.

AFP did not find any evidence the video had been shared online before it was posted to Trump's Truth Social and Instagram accounts.

- Dancers and beards -

One scene closely resembles an AI-generated image of Trump and Netanyahu drinking cocktails that began circulating in early February.

Another scene shows belly dancers shimmying on the beach, sporting thick, long beards more typically worn by Islamists.

More than 15 months of war, triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, have left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins and most of its population displaced from their homes.

Senir Hamas official Bassem Naim said in reaction to the video: "Unfortunately, President Trump is once again proposing ideas and solutions that do not take into account the cultures and interests of the indigenous population."

In Gaza, people who watched the video were in disbelief.

"This video of Trump is full of fallacies and shows a lack of cultural awareness... Gaza won't become a tourist spot like Italy or Spain," said Nasser Abu Hadaid, a 60-year-old resident of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

"What I know about Trump is that he is a strange but bold president who does what he says he will do. What matters to him is money and investments -- there is no humanity," said Manal Abu Seif, a 23-year-old lawyer in Gaza City.

"Gaza needs freedom, open border crossings and jobs for young people, and is not a playground for tourism and investment," she added.

UN estimates have put the cost of reconstruction at more than $53 billion.

A fragile ceasefire, in effect since January 19, has allowed an increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza, though Hamas has accused Israel of blocking the entry of some essential supplies.​
 

Hamas wants pressure on Israel to start next phase of Gaza truce
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 28 February, 2025, 23:05

1740791160342.png

A freed Palestinian prisoner is embraced by family at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. | AFP photo

Palestinian group Hamas called on Friday for international pressure on Israel to enter the next phase of a ceasefire that has largely halted the war in Gaza, as negotiations were resuming in Cairo.

With hours to go before the first phase of the truce is due to expire, mediator Egypt said on Thursday that Israeli, Qatari and US delegations were in the capital Cairo for ‘intensive’ talks on a second phase that should bring a permanent end to the war.

In Israel, a day after the military acknowledged its ‘complete failure’ to prevent the 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war, mourners gathered for the funeral of Tsachi Idan, a hostage whose remains have been returned from Gaza.

Hamas said in a statement that ‘with the end of the first phase of the ceasefire’, the group ‘affirms its full commitment to implementing all the provisions of the agreement in all its stages and details’.

‘We call on the international community to pressure the Zionist occupation (Israel) to immediately enter the second phase of the agreement without any delay,’ it said.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ‘instructed the negotiation delegation to depart for Cairo’, his office said shortly after Hamas handed over the remains of Idan and three other hostages under the truce, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli custody.

The ceasefire, reached following months of gruelling negotiations, has largely halted the war that erupted with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Militants broke through Gaza’s security barrier that day, launching a deadly attack on residential communities, army bases and other sites, and seizing dozens of hostages.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and to bring home all the hostages after the attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

The Israeli retaliation has killed more than 48,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN has deemed reliable.

An internal Israeli army probe into the October 7 attack, released on Thursday, acknowledged the military’s ‘complete failure’ to prevent it, according to a military official who briefed reporters about the report’s contents.

‘Too many civilians died that day’ in Israel when the military failed to protect them, the official said.

A senior military official said at the same briefing that the military acknowledges it was ‘overconfident’ and had misconceptions about Hamas’s military capabilities before the attack.

Following the scathing probe’s release, Israel’s military chief General Herzi Halevi said: ‘The responsibility is mine.’

Halevi had already resigned last month citing the October 7 ‘failure’.

On Friday a crowd gathered at a football stadium in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv to bid a final farewell to former hostages Idan, 49, waving flags and holding scarves of the local team he supported.

After his body was repatriated, Israeli authorities said that he was ‘murdered while held hostage in Gaza’.

Israel Berman, a businessman who lived in the Nahal Oz kibbutz community where Idan was abducted, has said that ‘until the very last moment, we were hoping that Tsachi would return to us alive’.

The hostage-prisoner swap early Thursday was the final one under the initial stage of the truce that took effect on January 19.

Israel’s Prison Service said that 643 inmates were released after Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages.

Among those freed was the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail, Nael Barghouti, who spent more than four decades behind bars including for the murder of an Israeli officer.

AFP images showed some inmates, back in Gaza, awaiting treatment or being assessed at a hospital in Khan Yunis after their release. Several freed Palestinian prisoners were hospitalised following earlier swaps.

Yahya Shraideh, released on Thursday, said: ‘We were in hell and we came out of hell.’

Over the past several weeks, Hamas freed in stages 25 living Israeli and dual-national hostages and returned the bodies of eight others.

Israel, in return, was expected to free around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.

Gaza militants also released five Thai hostages outside the deal’s terms.​
 

Displaced Palestinians fear Israel’s West Bank raids ‘won’t stop’
AFP
Jenin, Palestinian Territories
Published: 28 Feb 2025, 15: 37

1740794019618.png

Israeli soldiers conduct a raid in the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on 9 February, 2025. AFP

Watching her granddaughter sleep in cramped quarters for displaced Palestinians, Sanaa Shraim hopes for a better life for the baby, born into a weeks-long Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces searching for suspected militants have long carried out limited incursions into Jenin refugee camp, where Shraim and about 24,000 other Palestinians normally live.

But with no end in sight to the ongoing military operation across the northern West Bank, “I worry about what will happen, when the children grow up in this reality of constant raids,” said Shraim.

She had already lost her militant son Yusef in a previous Israeli raid, in 2023. More recently, forced to flee the escalating Israeli assault since late January, Shraim has watched her daughter give birth in displacement.

“There have been so many repeated raids, and they won’t stop”, said the stern-faced grandmother, speaking to AFP in a crowded room at a community centre in Jenin city where the family have been sheltering for the past month.

The sweeping military operation was launched around the time a ceasefire took hold in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, a separate Palestinian territory.

Israel has since announced that its troops would remain in Jenin and neighbouring camps for up to a year.

‘Nothing left’ back home

Shraim and her family are among about 80 displaced residents of Jenin camp sharing the building in the city.

Thaer Mansoura, confined to a wheelchair due to osteoporosis, said he had to be rescued in a cart after army bulldozers tore through the streets around his home.

“We endured it as much as we could, but with so many children—my brothers’ kids, our neighbours’ children, my cousins’ children—we had no choice but to leave”, he told AFP.

Mansoura said his family had remained home for three days as electricity and then phone lines were cut, engulfed by the sound of bombs, gunfire and helicopters, as well as army drone broadcasting calls for residents to “evacuate your homes”.

Now, in the relative safety of the community shelter, he feels “stuck here—there’s no place to return to, nothing left”.

Back in the camp, just five kilometres (three miles) away, the rubble-strewn streets are devoid of people as Israeli soldiers patrol the perimeter on foot or in armoured jeeps and personnel carriers.

An AFP correspondent walls riddled with bullet holes, narrow streets littered with concrete slabs and facades torn by army bulldozers, and twisted metal storefronts barely hanging from their hinges.

Awnings blackened by fire stand as a reminder of life in the camp that came to a standstill a little over a month ago, when the Israeli operation began.

In the city centre, life has returned despite military presence, with some shops cautiously reopening—a sign of pressing economic concerns for many residents.

“Normally, after an operation, everything shuts down. But this time it is different,” said the manager of one apparel shop who declined to be named.

‘The same occupation’

The ongoing Israeli raid is unusual not only in its duration, but also in the rare deployment of tanks to the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Nathmi Turkman, 53, once jailed by Israel, carries a constant reminder of the last time Jenin saw such relentless military activity during the second Palestinian intifada, or “uprising”—a bullet from 2022 still in his flesh.

While Israel maintains that its offensive targets militant groups long active in the northern West Bank, Turkman said that “their bullets don’t differentiate between civilians and fighters”.

Before leaving the camp, he grabbed just one item from his home, a small Eiffel Tower figurine which he chose for its sentimental value.

Now at the community centre in Jenin city, Turkman said that for people who did not witness the events of the second intifada, the current Israeli operation “was shocking”.

“But for us, we lived through 2002 with tanks and warplanes”, he said.

“There’s no difference between 2002 and 2024 -- it’s all the same occupation.”

In this reality, Shraim fears that her grandchildren will grow up knowing only war and displacement.

On edge, she was startled when the stroller carrying her granddaughter tipped over in a park near the shelter, reacting as though the infant was in mortal danger before realising she was fine.

“The fear is inside me, and I can’t shake it,” said the grandmother.​
 
Iran is quickly readying up the massive TP-3 attack on Israel soon. There is discussion on something 5 to 10 thousand drones and ballistic missiles absolutely demolishing everything.

This attack will supersede the earlier two in both the magnitude and destruction of IDF assets!

US will shiit its pants when it happens.

I can't fukking wait for this........
 
Iran is quickly readying up the massive TP-3 attack on Israel soon. There is discussion on something 5 to 10 thousand drones and ballistic missiles absolutely demolishing everything.

This attack will supersede the earlier two in both the magnitude and destruction of IDF assets!

US will shiit its pants when it happens.

I can't fukking wait for this........
ye kahan se aai khabar ?

mazaa aa jayega if they do it, I just want to see Trump's response to it :D
 

Latest Posts

Back