War enters second month…”Talks underway to release 12 hostages under ceasefire”

Major foreign media outlets reported on the 8th (local time) that Qatar is mediating negotiations for the release of about 10 hostages held by the Palestinian armed faction Hamas under conditions of a power outage.

An anonymous source reported that Qatar is coordinating with the United States to mediate negotiations for the release of hostages between Israel and Hamas. A Hamas official stated, “Discussion is underway to release a total of 12 hostages, including six Americans, on the condition of a three-day humanitarian ceasefire.”

He further explained about the ceasefire conditions, “This is a measure to help Hamas release the hostages and allow Egypt to continue humanitarian support.”

Russian local media outlets, including TASS, also reported, citing Egypt’s state-run Al-Kahira News, that “Egypt is leaning towards a negotiation plan that swaps a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages.”

On the same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his previous position, stating, “There will be no ceasefire unless our hostages are released,” amidst baseless rumors, as reported by the local daily Times of Israel.

Earlier, U.S. political media Axios reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected President Joe Biden’s proposal to halt fighting for three days to release hostages on the 6th. According to the media, President Biden made a specific proposal for Hamas to release 10 to 15 hostages over three days and provide a list after verifying the identities of all hostages.

Hamas launched a surprise ground attack against Israel on the 7th of last month, killing about 1,400 civilians and kidnapping about 240. Israel immediately retaliated, and the war between Israel and Palestine entered its second month. The Israeli military has been increasing the scale and intensity of its forces since entering Gaza on the 27th of last month.

As speculation grows that Israel will long-term rule Gaza after concluding the ongoing war against Hamas, the Israeli government has stated that it is premature to discuss the future of Gaza.

Israeli government spokesman Elon Levy said, “It’s too early to discuss what happens after the Hamas scenario.” He added, “We hope the day after Hamas is next week. But it will take quite a long time.”

However, he added, “We are exploring various scenarios for ‘the day after’ with our international partners,” and “The common denominator is the demilitarization of Gaza and it should never again become a hotbed of terror.”

As the war drags on and civilian casualties increase, international criticism is growing. The UN has pointed out that the people of Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank are in the most dangerous situation, and both Hamas and Israel are committing war crimes.

Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, visited the Rafah border checkpoint connecting Palestine’s Gaza Strip to Egypt today and pointed out, “The atrocities committed by Hamas on the 7th of last month are horrific war crimes, and so is holding hostages.” He emphasized, “It is also a war crime for Israel to collectively punish Palestinian civilians, and it is illegal to forcibly evacuate civilians.”

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