Hamas launches war on Israel

[Jimbuna]

'I thought just kill me quickly': Gaza hostage's 54 days in captivity

It was the third time they caught her.

Crouching in a shallow dip in the field, Moran Stella Yanai knew this time was different.

"I heard 'Coo-coo!' and we raised our heads up - the terrorists were standing [there], smiling," she said. "Everyone started to run, I jumped and broke my leg, and they caught me."

Warning: This article contains details some readers may find disturbing.

Moran had been desperately trying to hide in the sparse cover of a potato field, as Hamas gunmen raided the site of the Nova music festival, a few miles from the Gaza border.

Hours earlier on 7 October, the gunmen had burst through Gaza's perimeter fence, attacking Israeli communities.

Moran had already been caught twice by groups of Hamas followers, she said, but had talked her way out by insisting she was Arab, and not Jewish.

The third time, her captors were different.

"They didn't talk, they just grabbed me," she remembered.

"They started to throw me from one to the other, and put me in the car. Two terrorists in the front, four in the backseat, three more in the [boot], and only me on top of everybody."

As they crossed the Gaza border, Moran glimpsed the crowd on the other side of the fence, before quickly closing her eyes.

"It was like a bull being entered into a huge arena," she told the BBC. "Everybody's happy - the children, the women, the men. It was tons of people."

She felt the car stop, and the car door open.

"I felt someone trying to pull my leg... All you can think of at that point is: please let it end fast. One hit to the head, and I will not feel anything. If it's happening, make it fast."

But the car door closed again, and the vehicle began to move off, carrying Moran with it. She says she later learned that the group holding her had sold her to Hamas.

It was the beginning of 54 days in captivity for Moran. During that time, she was transferred between seven different locations, quickly learning strategies to survive.

"You really need to protect your story," she explained. "What happens in the first house stays there, and doesn't come with you to the second house [or] the third house."

Each time, she said, it was important to pretend that everything in the previous location had been fine, and that her kidnappers had been her friends.

To hint at anything sexual, she believes, would have led to the group killing both captor and captive.

At one point, she was held with another woman, who was 18 years old and kidnapped while she was barefoot and still in her pyjamas. Moran, who understands a little Arabic, remembers overhearing their captors discuss who would take the women as their wives.

She said they even found the younger woman's mother among the other hostages and brought her in, asking for permission to marry her daughter.

"When you move from house to house, you need to be 'examined' to see that you're not hiding something on you," Moran said, sarcasm tilting across her face. "It's a 'really necessary test', as they explain it to you."

She looks away, the silence growing between us.

"I always try to explain to people that 'rape' is a really big word," she said. "It's not only the act. Even when a guy stands in front of your door, and you're sitting down, and he's staring at you for 10 minutes straight, five to six times a day, every day, for 54 days. Trust me; that's a rape."

Asked whether she was the victim of sexual assault while held captive, Moran says she was not, but that she has heard from other women hostages that they were raped while in Gaza.

She described being beaten up by her captors, and the mental terror of being powerless in a situation that could change in a second.

One day, she said, they sat down to play cards with their captors.

"I was so hungry, I was trying to make them laugh so they would bring us something to eat," she remembered.

"[One of the captors] was mocking me. I got angry and said something as a joke. He runs to the other room, comes back, and points a gun to my head, yelling at me, screaming that he will kill me, will blow my head off."

After 54 days in captivity, Moran Yanai was released in a ceasefire deal last November, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel jails.

Her Hamas captors filmed the handover, where she and other hostages were seen smiling and thanking their kidnappers before boarding the Red Cross bus out of Gaza.

Many people remarked at the time that they seemed well and even happy.

"They made us smile, and say thank you," Moran said. "Nobody heard the whispers that I'm saying to the boy next to me: hold on, five more minutes, don't start to cry now, stay smiling."

It's the first time in over an hour recounting her story that Moran's composure fractures. Her tears sudden, fast and silent.

The moment she crossed the border to Egypt, she says, was the moment she had waited all those weeks in captivity to cry.

"We couldn't [cry] when they were dragging us into Gaza, we couldn't do it in the houses, and that's the first thing I promised myself - that the minute I step into my country, I'll scream as loud as I can, because nobody will take my voice anymore."

Israeli officials believe about 30 of the 133 hostages remaining in Gaza are dead. Hopes of another ceasefire deal to secure their release have dimmed.

Stories of the conditions - and sexual assaults - in captivity have gradually emerged from some of those already released.

Moran says she lost 12% of her bodyweight, and her hair, during 54 days in Gaza, and that her body was covered with scars.

It is hard for her to imagine what it's like for the hostages still held there, five months on.

"If this isn't solved, then no-one is free," she said. "I can't go back to a daily routine; I can't go back to anything."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68891217

[Jimbuna]

Palestinian leader appeals to US to stop Israel's Rafah offensive

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the US is the only country that can stop Israel from attacking Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than a million people are taking refuge.

Mr Abbas, who runs parts of the occupied West Bank, said any attack could see Palestinians flee Gaza.

On Saturday Israel's foreign minister said Israel could suspend the incursion if there was a hostage deal.

"The release of the hostages is the top priority for us," Israel Katz said.

Long-running talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar have largely stalled because of the gaps between the Israeli and Hamas positions, but on Sunday Hamas said it would send representatives to Cairo to give a response to the latest proposal.

Hamas wants a permanent end to the war and withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza, while Israel insists Hamas must be destroyed in Gaza and all hostages freed.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Mr Abbas - whose Palestinian Authority is not present in Gaza, which has been under Hamas rule since 2007 - urged the US to intervene.

"We appeal to the United States of America to ask Israel to stop the Rafah operation because America is the only country capable of preventing Israel from committing this crime," he said.

"What will happen in the coming few days is what Israel will do with attacking Rafah because all the Palestinians from Gaza are gathered there."

He added that only a "small strike" on Rafah would force the Palestinian population to flee the Gaza strip.

"The biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people's history would then happen."

Egypt and other Arab states have previously said an influx of Palestinian refugees fleeing the war would be unacceptable because it would amount to the expulsion of Palestinians from their land.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken is due to arrive in Riyadh later on Sunday and hold talks with Mr Abbas.

The US has repeatedly said it cannot support a large-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah without seeing a credible plan to keep civilians out of harm's way.

On Sunday White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told ABC that Israel had agreed to listen to US concerns and thoughts before going into Rafah.

Meanwhile the Israeli military said its chief Herzi Halevi had approved plans to continue the war, with Israeli media saying this referred to the Rafah operation.

More than half of Gaza's population is in Rafah and conditions in the overcrowded southern city are already dire, with displaced people there telling the BBC there was a lack of food, water and medication.

Satellite pictures have shown new tent encampments being built near the Gaza coast, to the west of Rafah and the city of Khan Younis slightly further north, which has been left largely in ruins. Media reports say the tents are to accommodate people displaced from Rafah.

The current war began when Hamas attacked Israeli communities near Gaza, killing about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. Israel's subsequent campaign of aerial bombardment and ground operations in Gaza has killed 34,454 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.

Over the six months of war, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have entered and taken control of all of northern Gaza including Gaza City and most of central and southern Gaza including Khan Younis.

They have since withdrawn from almost all of those areas but troops remain stationed on a road Israel has built that separates northern and southern Gaza.

However Palestinians displaced to southern Gaza - where the Israeli military told them to go for their own safety earlier in the war - have been unable to return to homes further north, a key demand Hamas is making in ceasefire talks, and Israel has given no indication when they will be allowed to.

Meanwhile deadly Israeli bombardment has continued across Gaza including in Rafah, with the Israeli military saying it has been striking launch sites for projectiles.

US media have quoted unnamed Egyptian officials as saying the latest ceasefire proposal given to Hamas involved a several-week period of calm intended to lead to the end of the war in return for the release of 20 hostages.

This week Hamas's armed wing released two videos showing the first proof of life of three hostages since they were abducted last October.

In undated footage filmed under duress, Omri Miran said he had been held for 202 days and Keith Siegel mentioned the recent Passover holiday, indicating the clips were filmed recently.

It follows another proof-of-life video the group released earlier this week, showing Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, who is shown without his lower left arm in the short clip. It was blown off during Hamas's 7 October attack.

Some 133 hostages are believed still to be in Gaza, of whom about 30 are thought to be dead, after a brief truce in November saw some hostages released.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68916315

[em2nought]

You'd think with the number of so called civilian deaths reported by HAMAS that we'd be seeing huge numbers of photos from overflowing cemeteries?

[Jimbuna]

Gaza war: US 'hopeful' Hamas will accept Israel's new ceasefire offer

The US secretary of state hopes Hamas will accept what he has called Israel's "extraordinarily generous" offer for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.

Antony Blinken was speaking as a Hamas delegation discussed the new proposal with mediators from Egypt and Qatar.

A source close to the talks told the BBC they were cautiously optimistic.

The proposal includes a 40-day truce in return for the release of hostages and the prospect of displaced families being allowed back to northern Gaza.

It reportedly also involves new wording on restoring calm meant to satisfy Hamas's demand for a permanent ceasefire.

The Israeli government is coming under growing pressure from its global allies and the families of the hostages to agree a deal.

Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage.

More than 34,480 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

A deal agreed in November saw Hamas release 105 of the hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US have been attempting for weeks to broker a new agreement that would secure another pause in the fighting and the release of the 133 hostages who Israel says are still being held, at least 30 of whom are presumed dead.

Earlier this month, Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal for a six-week truce and the release of 40 women, children and elderly or sick hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas said it was sticking to its demands for a permanent ceasefire that would lead to a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes.

The source close to the talks in Cairo told the BBC that the new proposal from Israel was significantly different from previous offers.

On Saturday, the Axios news website cited Israeli officials as saying the proposal included a willingness for the return of people to northern Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the east-west corridor that divides the territory and prevents freedom of movement.

It also included a willingness to "discuss the establishment of a sustainable ceasefire as part of the implementation of the second phase of the deal", the officials said.

Israeli officials and a diplomat meanwhile told the New York Times and Financial Times on Monday that Israel was also prepared to reduce the number of hostages released during the first phase to 33, down from 40.

Hamas has only said publicly that it is studying the new Israeli proposal, but an unnamed senior official told AFP news agency on Sunday that "the atmosphere is positive unless there are new Israeli obstacles".

"There are no major issues in the observations and inquiries submitted by Hamas regarding the contents [of the proposal]," they added.

Mr Blinken also expressed optimism at a meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, which was attended by several of his European and Arab counterparts.

"Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous, on the part of Israel. And in this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas," he said.

"They have to decide, and they have to decide quickly... And I'm hopeful that they will make the right decision."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, whose country is a mediator in the Israel-Hamas negotiations along with Qatar, also said he was "hopeful".

"The proposal has taken into account the positions of both sides and has tried to extract moderation," he said. "There are factors that will have an impact on both sides' decisions, but I hope that all will rise to the occasion."

Sunday's phone call between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have focused on the negotiations.

They also discussed the need to sustain a recent increase in aid reaching Gaza and continued US opposition to a full-scale offensive on the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million displaced people are sheltering.

Local medics and rescuers said at least 22 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes on three homes in Rafah overnight.

"We demand the entire world calls for a lasting truce. This is enough," a man called Abu Taha told AFP at al-Najjar hospital, as a crowd of relatives mourned over the shrouded bodies.

There was no immediate comment on the reports from the Israeli military.

Meanwhile, children in Rafah told BBC Arabic's Gaza Today radio programme that rising temperatures were making life unbearable in the thousands of tents and makeshift shelters erected there.

"Being inside the tent does not protect me from the intense heat; it is as if I am standing directly under sun's rays," said Sarah Abu Amr, 11.

"There is no electricity to power fans or get cold water to ease the terrible effect of the heat, and there is no food, water, or anything at all to keep us hydrated."

Last week, when temperatures reached 40C (104F), a five-month-old girl reportedly died in a tent due to the extreme heat, according to the UN.

Over the weekend, there were further indications from senior Israeli generals that plans were being finalised for a major operation in Rafah, where the military says Hamas's remaining battalions and leaders are based.

But Mr Blinken - who is due to fly from Saudi Arabia to Jordan and Israel - noted that the US had "not yet seen a plan that gives us confidence that civilians can be effectively protected".

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas - a rival of Hamas who is based in the occupied West Bank - said on Sunday that the US was the only country capable of preventing an assault on Rafah, which he warned would cause "the biggest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people".

Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, said on Sunday that Israel's military would "suspend the operation" in Rafah if a hostage release deal was agreed.

But far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned Mr Netanyahu not to cancel the Rafah assault, saying that if he failed to destroy Hamas "the government headed by you will have no right to exist".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68920131

[Jimbuna]

US, Britain urge Hamas to accept Israeli truce proposal

RIYADH (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged Hamas to swiftly accept an Israeli proposal for a truce in the Gaza war and the release of Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.

Hamas negotiators were expected to meet Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Monday to deliver a response to the phased truce proposal which Israel presented at the weekend.

"Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel," Blinken said at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

"The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas. They have to decide and they have to decide quickly," he said. "I'm hopeful that they will make the right decision."
A source briefed on the talks said Israel's proposal entailed a deal for the release of fewer than 40 of the roughly 130 hostages believed to be still held in Gaza in exchange for freeing Palestinians jailed in Israel.

A second phase of a truce would consist of a "period of sustained calm" - Israel's compromise response to a Hamas demand for a permanent ceasefire.

A total of 253 hostages were seized in a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which about 1,200 Israelis were also killed, according to Israeli counts.

A French diplomatic source said there was a convergence on the number of hostages released in return for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, but that obstacles remained on the longer term nature of truce.

"We're not far off from a deal, but that's not the first time," the source said.

Israel retaliated by imposing a total siege on Gaza and mounting an air and ground assault that has killed about 34,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Palestinians are suffering from severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine in a humanitarian crisis brought on by the offensive that has demolished much of the territory.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who was also in Riyadh for the WEF meeting, also described the Israeli proposal as "generous".

It included a 40-day pause in fighting and the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners as well as Israeli hostages, he told a WEF audience.

"I hope Hamas do take this deal and frankly, all the pressure in the world and all the eyes in the world should be on them today saying 'take that deal'," Cameron said.

Cameron is among several foreign ministers in Riyadh, including from the U.S., France, Jordan and Egypt, as part of a diplomatic push to bring an end to the Gaza war.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...e927fa7e&ei=23

[Jimbuna]

Hamas unlikely to accept peace deal

Hamas is likely to turn down Israel’s proposal for a truce as it does not include clear commitments for ending the war in Gaza, a top official from the group has said.

Souheil al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’s leadership in Gaza, said late on Wednesday that the terrorist group is likely to respond negatively to the much-touted proposal for a 40-day ceasefire and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

He told AFP: “Hamas is open to any dialogue with mediators, whether Egyptian or Qatari, and is also open to all initiatives to end the war on the Palestinian people, but within very clear conditions that cannot be abandoned.”

“As long as there is a continuation of the war, I believe that the Palestinian resistance has spoken on this issue.”

A leaked copy of the proposal included a pledge to create “sustained calm” in Gaza once the first stage of the deal is implemented. The vaguely worded phrase is the closest Israel has come to signalling its willingness for a truce, while its leadership keeps publicly denying suggestions that it stop the war in Gaza altogether.

The remarks came amid reports that the ultimate decision on the proposal will be made by Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza and one of the masterminds of the Oct 7 massacre in southern Israel.

Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 on Thursday quoted a “source close to” Mr Sinwar as saying that the proposal on the table for a deal is “an Israeli proposal in an American disguise and it contains a series of booby-trapped clauses”.

The source also said exiled Hamas functionaries do not speak for the terrorist group.

Israeli media on Thursday morning cited unnamed Israeli security officials who said they were not optimistic about the outcome of the talks, despite high hopes from Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state.

Israel’s war cabinet will be meeting on Thursday evening to discuss the possible deal after a previous meeting was cancelled on Wednesday night.

Protesters and families of some of the hostages in Hamas captivity on Thursday morning rallied in support of the deal, decrying Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks that Israel would launch an offensive on Gaza’s Rafah no matter what happens to the hostage negotiations.

Families of several Israeli hostages and their supporters briefly blocked the main highway in Tel Aviv during the morning rush hour, demanding an immediate deal.

They unfurled a banner saying “Rafa or the hostages - choose life”.

Meanwhile, UN experts have recently published estimates of the damage that six months of war has done to the densely populated Gaza Strip.

A new report by two UN agencies on Thursday said at least 370,000 housing units in Gaza have been damaged, with 79,000 of them completely destroyed.

It would take until at least 2040 to rebuild all the destroyed homes, without repairing the damaged ones.

On Wednesday, the head of the UN’s mine clearing agency said there was more rubble, some of it contaminated with mines, to clear in Gaza than in Ukraine where the front line is 600 miles long – compared to just 25 miles in the Gaza Strip.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...cc290698&ei=26

[Jeff-Groves]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Hamas unlikely to accept peace deal

And all the University Protesters in the U.S.A. are also unlikely to accept any deals.

I say reinstate thier Loan payments!