Truce talks deadlocked, as Israel details abuse of Gaza hostages

Hamas returns to demanding a permanent ceasefire as its condition for a truce as a new report details horrific abuse and torture, with even child hostages being sexually abused.

Protesters rally in a call for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages outside the Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. Picture; AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Hamas after the latest ceasefire negotiations once more reached a deadlock.

Mr Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday (local time) a deal had not been reached to free the Israeli hostages held in Gaza because Hamas “does not want there to be a deal,” according to Israeli media.

During the meeting, which took place before Mr Netanyahu underwent surgery to remove his prostate, his ministers were told the negotiations “were stuck,” with Hamas returning to its demands for a permanent ceasefire before it agreed to a ceasefire.

The demand has been a long term sticking point in negotiations, but recently Hamas had appeared to soften its approach, particularly Donald Trump had threatened that “all hell will break loose” if the hostages weren’t freed by January 20, when he will be inaugurated as US President.

After his threats, the group made a number of key concessions including allowing the Israeli Defence Forces into Gaza temporarily after a truce. However the meeting was told the Palestinian group were “constantly trying to change direction in the talks,” the Jerusalem Post reports.

“The situation is less optimistic,” ministers told the newspaper.

The deadlock comes as an Israeli government report set to be submitted to the UN this week says that hostages, including children, freed last year from Gaza endured physical and sexual abuse during their captivity.

The report from the Israeli health ministry, which it said was based on testimonies from released captives, details incidents of individuals being burned, beaten and deliberately starved by their Hamas captors.

The findings will be presented this week to Alice Jill Edwards, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, the ministry said in a statement.

The report said that some of the hostages, including children, had been “sexually assaulted or forced to undress, including at gunpoint”.

Women hostages described being “tied to beds while their captors stared at them,” while men also reported severe abuse, the report said.

Israel has previously presented reports and released testimonies from hostages detailing sexual abuses in captivity, which Hamas has consistently denied.

Some former hostages have spoken publicly. Earlier this year, freed hostage Amit Soussana told the New York Times of how she was forced to perform “a sexual act” on one of her captors.

The latest report from the health ministry also said that male captives “endured severe physical abuse, including continuous starvation, beatings, burns with galvanised iron … and being denied access to the bathroom, which forced them to defecate on themselves”.

Israeli health minister Uriel Busso said in a statement released alongside the report that it was “a harrowing testimony to the brutal experiences suffered by the hostages in Hamas captivity”.

“The horrors the hostages endured reveals to the world the brutality of the enemy with whom Israel is engaged.” Busso called the testimonies a “wake-up call” for the international community to intensify pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages in Gaza.

During their attack on Israel on October 7 last year, Hamas-led militants seized 251 hostages.

Eighty Israelis were among 105 captives released during a one-week truce late last year, the only truce in over 14 months of war between Israel and Hamas that began after the attack.

Ninety-six hostages remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

In recent weeks, progress has been reported in efforts to reach a new deal that would release the remaining hostages and bring a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

“This critical report underscores the urgent need to release all hostages as swiftly as possible,” Moshe Bar-Siman-Tov, the health ministry’s director general, said.

Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the report painted “a grim reality of the physical abuse and psychological torment” endured by the hostages.

It urged a comprehensive deal “to secure the immediate release of all hostages”.

With AFP