Hamas launches war on Israel

[Jimbuna]

Hamas chiefs 'planned to INVADE Israel, kill civilians and form state'

Hamas commanders planned to invade wider Israel and divide it up between the group's leaders, killing settlers and integrating others into a Palestinian State, according to a former official in the West Bank. A former high-ranking official in Fatah, a political organisation of Arab Palestinians, told Israeli outlet Haaretz that Hamas had long planned to 'bring Israel down', going so far as to divide the territory into cantons. 'One day, a well-known Hamas figure calls and tells me with pride and joy that they are preparing a full list of committee heads for the cantons that will be created in Palestine,' Iyad (not his real name) told the outlet.

Iyad claimed he did not take talk of of 'the last promise' seriously until 2021, when he realised 'the entire leadership had been taken captive by the [Hamas leader, Yahya] Sinwar group's deranged idea of an all-out battle', per Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar. 'So strongly did they believe in the idea that Allah was with them, and that they were going to bring Israel down, that they started dividing Israel into cantons, for the day after the conquest,' he said, dubbing Sinwar an 'insane fanatic'. Iyad told the outlet that he was offered the chairmanship of the Zarnuqa committee after the planned invasion, 'where my family lived before 1948'.

He claimed to have turned down the offer to 'lead the group that would be in charge of rehabilitating the Ramle-Rehovot area' now standing in the region 'on the day after the realisation of 'the last promise''. 'You're out of your minds,' Iyad said he told the Hamas official, asking them not to contact him again. That year, Sinwar sent a written speech to the Hamas-sponsored 'The Promise of the Hereafter Conference', attended by other Palestinian groups, exploring preparations for the future administration of a wider state of Palestinian after Israel 'disappears'.

The Hamas leader said at the time the conquest of the 'state of the Zionists' was 'closer now than ever before', reiterating efforts to bring about Hamas' 'strategic vision' and plans for 'what will come after it'. Among the reported plans was a document of independence that would be 'a direct continuation of the Pact of "Umar Bin Al-Khattab" concerning Byzantine Jerusalem's surrender to the Muslim conquerors which took place apparently in 638', a new currency, and a call for a guide for resettling refugees wishing to return.

The conference also recommended rules for dealing with the Jewish population, including defining which would be killed, which would be prosecuted, and which would be allowed to leave or remain and be integrated into a new state, per American research institute MEMRI. The conference also discussed the risk of a brain drain and how to ensure 'educated Jews and experts in the areas of medicine, engineering, technology and civilian and military industry' stay - by preventing them from leaving. Sinwar said at the time that Hamas was sponsoring this conference because it is in line with our assessment that victory is nigh' and that 'the full liberation of Palestine from the sea to the river' is 'the heart of Hamas's strategic vision.'

Hamas, formed in 1987 by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, has controlled the Gaza Strip since winning the 2006 parliamentary elections and toppling rival party Fatah in a power struggle during the bloody Battle of Gaza in 2007. Fatah, the largest faction of the multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), retained control of the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank through its president and oversees a number of Palestinian refugee camps. Since the Battle of Gaza, Hamas has made a number of reconciliation attempts with Fatah, without lasting agreement.

Hamas usurped the acting authorities in Gaza in 2006 on a campaign against corruption and vowing to reclaim land taken lost to Israel since the latter's founding in 1948. The Palestinians have not held elections since then. They also won support in promises to resettle Palestinians displaced from their land and property by a series of major massacres during the 1948 war, in which some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their home and about 15,000 were killed in mass atrocities. While Fatah, a secular organisation looking to build a Palestinian state on 1967 borders, carried out thousands of guerrilla attacks on Israel, the group has worked more to negotiate with Israel in recent years, ruling out armed resistance.

However this remains controversial, with Israel granted full control of the Palestinian economy and security matters in more than 60 per cent of the West Bank. Hamas, an Islamist organisation that does not recognise Israel but ostensibly accepts a Palestinian state on 1967 borders, remains divisive for its continued use of armed resistance in efforts to - in their view - reclaim Palestinian land. The group organised its first [death] bombing in 1993, destroying a bus in the West Bank carrying Israeli soldiers, killing the attacker and a Palestinian who worked nearby. Hamas steadily refined its techniques and engaged in retaliatory attacks on Israel during periods of conflict.

The perceived resistance gained the group support from Palestinians in Gaza - though Fatah would remain more popular until the 21st century. A poll of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza late last year, after the October 7 attack, found a rise in support for Hamas in spite of the devastation of the Gaza Strip. The survey found 63 per cent also believed 'armed struggle' to be the most effective strategy for attaining independence - a ten per cent hike in three months. Only 13 per cent favoured non-violent protest and 20 per cent negotiations with Israel. Support for Hamas spikes during times of conflict and falls during peacetime, pollsters say.

Nearly 90 per cent also believed Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the PNA and chair of the PLO, should resign. The narrative around the war is somewhat complicated by access to information. While nearly 80 per cent of Palestinians oppose the killing of Israeli civilians and the taking of hostages, 85 per cent said they have not seen footage of Hamas' atrocities against civilians on October 7.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...&ei=13#image=1

[Jimbuna]

Hersh Goldberg-Polin: Gaza hostage's parents urge him to 'stay strong' after new video

The parents of an Israeli-American hostage in Gaza have urged him to "stay strong" and "survive" after Hamas released a proof-of-life video.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, is seen without his lower left arm in the short clip. It was blown off during Hamas's 7 October attack on southern Israel.

The footage is undated, but he says he has been held for almost 200 days.

In response, his mother and father appealed for more to be done to secure a new hostage release deal.

They urged Israel, Hamas and mediators the US, Egypt and Qatar to "get a deal done" to reunite "all of us with our loved ones and end the suffering in this region".

Speaking under duress in the video posted on Hamas's Telegram account on Wednesday, Mr Goldberg-Polin said he needed medical help and was critical of the Israeli government's attempts to negotiate the hostages' return.

Weeks of indirect negotiations have failed to produce an agreement, with Hamas rejecting the latest proposal for a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of 40 of the remaining 133 hostages. At least 30 hostages are presumed dead.

Israel appears to be moving ahead with plans for an offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza, despite warnings of the potentially catastrophic humanitarian consequences for the 1.5 million displaced Palestinians sheltering there.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68893885

[Jimbuna]

Gaza pier: US begins building floating base to boost aid

The US military has started building a large floating pier off Gaza's coast to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, the defence department has said.

Ships will deliver aid from Cyprus to the pier where it will be loaded onto trucks to transfer across Gaza.

The pier will be attached to the shore by a temporary causeway, which the trucks will use.

US officials say the pier will be operational by early May but there will be no US boots on the ground in Gaza.

The plan was first announced by President Joe Biden in March as part of efforts to tackle hunger in Gaza compounded by problems with aid deliveries, as Israel continues its military campaign against Hamas.

The UN has warned that famine in the Gaza Strip is "almost inevitable" and children are starving to death.

More than 1,000 US troops are expected to be involved in building the floating harbour, but the Pentagon made clear from the start that the workers would not set foot on land.

The causeway will be assembled at sea, allowing US forces to avoid stepping onto the ground.

And a British naval vessel in the eastern Mediterranean will be a floating dormitory for the American soldiers and sailors. They will live and sleep aboard RFA [Royal Fleet Auxiliary] Cardigan Bay.

A Pentagon spokesperson, Major General Pat Ryder, told a news conference on Thursday: "US military vessels... have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary pier and causeway at sea."

He said that the causeway would connect to the temporary pier, "which is out at sea, and the causeway which eventually will join land and be anchored, so to speak."

The US says that once the system is operational, up to 150 trucks of aid could be delivered a day with two million meals, enough to feed almost all of the territory's 2.3 million population.

Israel has faced international criticism with accusations it is limiting the amount of aid that reaches by land Gaza's civilians in dire need of food. Israel has blamed aid agencies for the hold-ups.

Israel said it would provide security and logistical support during the construction work and the transfer of aid from the pier to Gaza's population. But aid agencies have voiced concerns over how the Israeli military will handle security, and the parties are yet to reach an agreement about it.

A senior American official told Reuters news agency that humanitarian aid to be delivered off the pier would need to pass through Israeli checkpoints on land. That was despite the aid having already been inspected and screened by Israel in Cyprus prior to being shipped to Gaza.

Israel has reiterated that it would prevent any aid getting to Hamas fighters.

But the extra checkpoints once the aid is offloaded onto trucks have raised questions about possible delays. The UN agencies have long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza and its distribution.

The World Food Programme has agreed to lead the delivery operation, but the UN agency said Israel must ensure that aid workers are not harmed.

Many aid groups are apprehensive about working in Gaza after seven World Central Kitchen workers were killed in an Israeli air strike on 1 April while driving in clearly marked vehicles with prior permission from the IDF to travel.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68904209

[Jimbuna]

Bernie Sanders
"Mr. Netanyahu, do not insult the intelligence of the American people."

[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