Israel-Hamas War: ‘35 hostages for 35-day truce’: New hope for Israel’s hostages
A new deal being considered by Hamas is expected to see 35 captives released in exchange for a 35-day ceasefire. Warning: Graphic. Follow updates.
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Hamas is reviewing plans for a three-stage truce with Israel which foresee a weeks-long halt to the Gaza war, a source in the Palestinian militant group told AFP.
The Islamist movement said earlier this week it was mulling proposals drawn up by mediators in Paris for a second truce nearly four months since the war began.
While a November pause to the fighting lasted a week, the latest accord aims to pave the way for an initial six-week halt to the fighting.
Over that period Israel would release between 200 and 300 Palestinian prisoners who are not deemed high-security detainees, in exchange for 35 to 40 hostages held in Gaza, the Hamas source close to Egyptian and Qatari mediators said.
Only “women, children and sick men over 60” who are captive in Gaza would be freed at this stage, the Hamas source told AFP, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the issue.
According to The Times of Israel, citing Mossad spy agency chief David Barnea, the deal would involve the release of 35 hostages over a 35-day truce.
Israel says 132 of the hostages remain in Gaza including at least 29 people believed to have been killed, with claims it was as a result of Israeli airstrikrd.
Relentless bombardment by Israel and a ground invasion has killed at least 26,900 people in Gaza since then, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly refused a request to designate the release of the hostages as his highest priority among the other goals of the war — above the elimination of Hamas, and the demilitarization of Gaza — telling the families: “It is not possible to advance one goal of the war at the expense of harming other goals.”
He also reportedly told the families he would not approve a deal “at any price.”
According to Channel 12, some representatives left the meeting “very concerned” over Netanyahu’s rhetoric.
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NETANYAHU VOWS TO BRING HOSTAGES HOME
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out pulling Israel’s armed forces from Gaza, but in a meeting with some families of hostages on Wednesday he vowed to bring the captives home.
“We are making every effort, but the more discreet these efforts are, greater are the chances of success,” he said in a statement issued by his office.
“There is a real effort to bring everyone back … it’s too early to say how it will unfold, but these efforts are underway as we speak.”
A Hamas source said if the ceasefire being discussed lasts, a second stage would see Israeli reservist soldiers released from captivity in exchange for an undefined number of Palestinian prisoners.
Other soldiers and officers would subsequently be freed, the source said, once more in tandem with the release of Palestinians held in Israel.
The last issues addressed by the deal pertain to an exchange of bodies by the two sides, as well as the control of Gaza border crossings and rebuilding the shattered territory.
Egypt and Qatar were set to serve as mediators, in co-ordination with the United States and France, the Hamas source added.
SWEDEN FOILS TERROR ATTACK ON ISRAEL EMBASSY
An attempted terror attack on Israel’s embassy in Sweden was foiled after the country’s bomb squad destroyed the “live” device”
Stockholm police said the “dangerous object” was found by staff inside the premises of the embassy in the Swedish capital, with Israel’s ambassador Ziv Nevo Kulman adding it was an attempted attack on Jewish officials.
“We will not be intimidated by terror,” Kulman added. “Our excellent diplomats around the world are subject to danger and threats from supporters of Islamic terrorism … Islamic terrorism must be eradicated everywhere, in Gaza and Europe.”
Daniel Wikdahl with the Stockholm police said the embassy alerted authorities to the device at about 1:08pm.
The area was closed off as the national bomb squad was called to the scene to destroy the device.
“The object has been destroyed by the national bomb squad, and our assessment is that it was live,” the police officer said.
While police have opened an investigation, Wikdahl declined to specify exactly what the object was.
BLINKEN TO RETURN TO MIDDLE EAST
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East as negotiations gather steam on a proposal to halt Israel’s offensive and free Hamas-held hostages.
Blinken will return to the region “in the coming days,” a US official said on condition of anonymity, without specifying the destinations or dates.
It will be Blinken’s fifth trip to the region since October 7, when Hamas fighters carried out an unprecedented attack inside Israel, which has responded with an unrelenting military campaign in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The latest trip comes as Israel and Hamas consider a proposal that would freeze the fighting in return for the release of hostages.
UN AID AGENCY INVESTIGATION ‘EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said it is “extremely important” to conduct an independent investigation into Israeli allegations that 12 of its employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack against Israel.
Important donors — among them Britain, Germany and Japan and the United States — have announced their suspension of aid to UNRWA following Israel’s allegations.
“We have 33,000 people … so it is extremely important for us to really have an independent investigation into these specific individual cases that Israel brought to our attention,” said UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai.
“We received allegations from the Israeli government over 12 names in Gaza, we had to check those names against our records of 13,000 staff in Gaza, and we were able to match eight of these names,” Alrifai said.
GAZA ‘STARVING TO DEATH’: WHO
The population of Gaza is starving to death due to constraints imposed on humanitarian aid, the World Health Organisation’s emergencies director Michael Ryan said on Wednesday.
The WHO said the risk of famine in the Palestinian territory was already high and on the rise, with the space for humanitarian intervention being increasingly squeezed.
“This is a population that is starving to death, this is a population that is being pushed to the brink,” Ryan told a press conference.
UN ENVOY CALLS OUT ‘DOUBLE STANDARD’
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has said that governments suspending funds to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) represents “double standards” when they continue to support Israel, whose actions “plausibly constitute” genocide.
About a dozen mostly Western countries have suspended funding to UNRWA while they await the outcome of an investigation into allegations that 12 former staff members participated in the October 7 attacks on Israel.
Meanwhile, questions have been raised over whether Israel changed details about how it obtained information about the 12 UNRWA employees as America’s ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield seeks more information.
On Saturday, the US news outlet Axios quoted an Israeli official who said that “a lot of the intelligence is a result of interrogations of militants who were arrested during the October 7 attack”.
However, on Sunday, The New York Times – which says it obtained a “dossier” on the Israeli allegations – reported that the information had been obtained through surveillance.
Israeli forces have detained an unknown number of people in Gaza – including UN workers – since October 7. Palestinians released from detention say they were beaten, verbally abused, undressed and deprived of sleep during Israeli interrogations.
Western governments have suspended #UNRWA funds due to serious ALLEGATIONS agst 12 staff.
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) January 31, 2024
Same governments have not suspended ties with the state whose army has killed 26k ppl in Gaza in 3.5m,though ICJ said it may plausibly constitute GENOCIDE.
Double standards? Yes, big time.
AUDIO CAPTURES LAST WORDS OF TEEN GIRL KILLED BY IDF
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has released an audio recording of 15-year-old Palestinian girl Layan Hamadeh, who died after being shot by Israeli forces while calling for help as she was trapped in a car targeted by Israeli forces in Gaza. Layan was trapped in the car with her dead family members around her after an ambush on their vehicle.
Layan’s 6-year-old sister, Hind, survived and was trapped in the car with the dead for hours as a PRCS team tried to rescue her. PRCS has lost contact with the rescue team and their fate, and that of Hind, is still unknown.
âºï¸Audio recording of the moment gunfire was directed at 15-year-old Layan Hamadeh while she was speaking on the phone with the Palestine Red Crescent team.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 30, 2024
💔Layan was killed, and 6-year-old Hind remained trapped inside the car surrounded by the occupation tanks and soldiers.… pic.twitter.com/iMHGdoRcni
🚨As of now, contact is still lost with the ambulance team 🚑that departed yesterday on the mission to rescue the 6-year-old girl Hind Rajab from #Gaza City. Information about them remains unknown, and we feel extremely concerned about their fate and whether they succeeded in… pic.twitter.com/qZPvvClWV0
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 30, 2024
REMAINS OF DOZENS OF PALESTINIANS RELEASED BY ISRAEL
Dozens of unidentified Palestinians were laid to rest at a mass burial in Gaza on Tuesday after Israeli authorities handed over bodies they had been holding for weeks in Israel.
Many onlookers covered their noses with masks as about 100 bodies were placed in graves in the southern city of Rafah before bulldozers piled sand on them.
Palestinian officials said the bodies included victims of the Israel-Hamas war and corpses that had been dug up as Israeli forces pushed through Gaza. Israel did not comment on the handover or on the assertion that some corpses had been dug up.
Health officials confirmed they had received 100 bodies, “including full bodies, half bodies and body parts.”
BERNIE SANDERS CALLS FOR UNRWA FUNDING TO BE RESTORED
Senator Bernie Sanders has said in a statement that the US and other countries need to restore their funding to the UN agency, which is providing critical and lifesaving assistance to Gaza’s population.
“Obviously, it’s not acceptable for any of the 13,000 UNRWA employees in Gaza to be involved with Hamas, and allegations against the 12 people charged must be investigated,” Sanders said.
“However, we cannot allow millions to suffer because of the actions of 12 people. The US and other countries must restore funding to stave off this humanitarian catastrophe.”
AUSSIE SHIP HEADED TO MIDDLE EAST TURNED BACK
A live export ship with thousands of sheep on-board has been left stranded off the Western Australian coast after the Australian government ordered it to turn back amid the Houthi rebel attacks.
The MV Bahijah, with up to 15,000 sheep and about 2000 cattle on board, has been at sea for 25 days since being ordered by the Department to turn back to Fremantle after diverting to South Africa due to rising tensions in the Red Sea.
It has left the ship in a stalemate, which has been anchored 10km off Perth for several days, and the sheep on-board.
According to The Australian, the Israel-based exporter — which is not a member of the Australian Livestock Exporters Council — wants to restock with fresh fodder and send the ship to the Middle East via the southern cape of Africa and into the Mediterranean Sea.
However, the Department of Agriculture said an independent vet will need to inspect the health of the sheep before permitting the movement.
UK TO CONSIDER RECOGNISING A PALESTINIAN STATE
The UK will consider recognising a Palestinian state to help end the war with Israel, the country’s foreign secretary has said.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told a Westminster reception for Arab ambassadors in London that the move would help to make a two-state solution an “irreversible” process to end the war, according to the UK’s Press Association news agency (PA).
It follows Mr Cameron’s written remarks earlier this week, in which he said: “We must give the people of the West Bank and Gaza the political perspective of a credible route to a Palestinian state and a new future. And it needs to be irreversible.
“This is not entirely in our gift. But Britain and our partners can help by confirming our commitment to a sovereign, viable Palestinian state, and our vision for its composition.
“And, crucially, we must state our clear intention to grant it recognition, including at the United Nations.”
FOOD UNABLE TO REACH STARVING CROWDS: WHO
Director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the WHO and its partners had planned to deliver food to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, as there is a “serious shortage” there.
However, “due to delays around the checkpoint, the crowds took food being delivered, and once again it did not reach Nasser”, he said.
“This underscores the utter desperation of people in Gaza, who live in hellish conditions, including severe hunger,” Tedros noted on X.
“We continue to seek permission to deliver the fuel to the hospital.”
Amid ongoing heavy military operations in the vicinity of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, #Gaza, @WHO and partners were able to reach the hospital yesterday and deliver essential medical supplies for 1000 patients. The team had also planned to deliver food to the hospital,… pic.twitter.com/DiW16UangR
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 30, 2024
16 PALESTINIANS DEAD IN DEIR EL-BALAH STRIKE
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on X that it transported the bodies of 16 people, including women and children, recovered from the wreckage of a residential home that was hit by Israeli bombs.
Earlier, it was reported on another Israeli strike on the central Gaza Strip city, also on a residential home, that killed at least two little girls.
🚑The Palestine Red Crescent teams transported 16 martyrs, including women and children, due to the occupation's targeting of a house in the city of Deir al-Balah, central #Gaza.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 30, 2024
📷Filmed by: PRCS volunteer, Ahmed Wishah pic.twitter.com/pdfRhgVfsq
BIDEN DECIDES RESPONSE TO DEADLY IRAN-BACKED ATTACK
Joe Biden said he will hold Iran “responsible” for the drone strike that killed three American soldiers as he confirmed his response has been decided.
Asked if the official military response to the attack had been finalised, the US President said “yes” he had decided how to retaliate against the drone strike on a US base in Jordan.
“I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That’s not what I’m looking for,” Mr Biden said.
“I do hold them [Iran] responsible in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it,” he continued, before adding “we’ll have that discussion” when asked if a direct link to Iran had been established.
It comes after US officials said the response would likely be more powerful than previous retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria.
Options included strikes against militant groups in both countries as well as an offensive cyber attack.
‘TIERED RESPONSE’ TO INCLUDE ‘MULTIPLE ACTIONS’
White House National Security Council adviser John Kirby said there would likely be a “tiered response” with several phases in the retaliation.
“They have now taken the lives of three American troops and so I think it’s fair for you to expect that we will respond in an appropriate fashion,” he said.
“Not just a single action but potentially multiple actions.”
Kirby added they know “for a fact” that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps () has provided weapons to the militants in the past, and that the Department of Defence is doing a forensic examination of the exact drone used in the Jordan attack.
“[The response] will continue to degrade the kinds of capabilities that these groups have at their disposal to use against our troops and our facilities,” he said.
“And to send a strong signal to their backers in the IRGC that these attacks are unacceptable and the president will do what he has to do to protect our troops and our facilities. And to look after our national security interests in the region.”
IRAN WARY OF RESPONSE
Iranian commentators warned the US military retaliation could directly target the country after a drone strike killed three American troops.
“The possibility that Biden will order direct attacks on Iranian targets cannot be ignored,” political analyst Ahmad Zeidabadi wrote in the Ham Mihan newspaper.
But he said that any US attacks would more likely target “the bases of Iranian forces in other countries”.
In a sign of heightened tensions, Iran’s rial slipped to an all-time low of around 580,000 to 600,000 to the US dollar on the black market.
The reformist Etemad daily also said it was “possible” the Biden administration — under political pressure from the Republicans — “will target limited but strategic targets inside Iran”.
“This scenario may spell the end of diplomatic efforts between Tehran and Washington,” it said.
TEHRAN SUMMONS BRITISH AMBASSADOR
Tehran summoned the British ambassador to protest unspecified “accusation” against the Islamic Republic, after London said Iran-aligned groups were behind the Jordan attack.
Britain, along with the United States, also imposed sanctions on a network that they allege targets Iranian dissidents.
Washington has repeatedly accused Iran of involvement in Red Sea attacks by Houthi rebels and of “actively facilitating” attacks on US forces in other parts of the Middle East.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, again stressed Tehran’s position in a letter published by the official IRNA news agency.
He wrote that no group affiliated with Iran’s armed forces, “whether in Iraq, Syria or elsewhere … operates directly or indirectly under the control of the Islamic Republic of Iran or acts on its behalf”.
RUSSIA DENIES ROLE IN ATTACK
The Kremlin called for a de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East after Washington vowed to respond to an attack in Jordan that left three US military servicemen dead.
“In our view, the overall level of tension is very alarming and, on the contrary, now is the time for steps to de-escalate tensions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Tehran, an ally of Moscow, said it had nothing to do with the attack and denied US accusations it supported militant groups behind the strike near the borders with Iraq and Syria.
“This is the only thing that can help us prevent further spreading of the conflict, especially the Middle East conflict, and somehow achieve de-confliction and de-escalation,” Peskov added.
– with AFP
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