The truce is officially over. Hamas wants to proceed to phase 2 (Israel surrenders), Israel rejects that idea. There are a couple of proposals for continuing the truce, based on releasing more hostages (who are, just to remind you, being held captive in violation of international law). Israel is cutting off aid transfer to Gaza … More Truce Mar 3
The truce has officially ended but Egypt is still trying to get an agreement for an extension that will include releasing more hostages. Hamas does not seem ready to accept this. An American proposal for releasing all hostages and continuing negotiations was accepted by Israel, but rejected by Hamas. Both sides seem headed toward resuming … More Truce Mar 2
It’s the end of February and the start of Adar. Neither month seems to bring on any improvements in the negotiations. There are still hostages and Hamas isn’t giving them up without some major concession from Israel (even though the US wants them ALL released immediately). Hamas is still smuggling in lots of material via … More Truce Feb 28
Hamas returned 4 more dead bodies to Israel last night. Interestingly, they did refrain from parading and making a show. In return, Israel released about 600 imprisoned terrorists. Hamas then was able to display that they had learned something from the previous rounds of hostage swaps. A couple of newly freed terrorists were trotted out … More Truce 27 Feb
This is hardly a truce. It reminds me of 1948. Several military operations took place in between UN imposed cease-fire arrangements. Moving onward, there are at least three scenarios; Hamas accepts demilitarization and exile (not very likely), Hamas releases all hostages in return for continued truce (likely only if there is resettlement option for Gazans), … More Truce Feb 26
The first phase of the agreement is drawing to a close, and both sides are having difficulties continuing on to phase 2. On the Hamas side the next phase has to include all the demands that amount to an Israeli surrender; full withdrawal from Gaza, release of all terrorist prisoners, return of Hamas to governing … More Truce Feb 25
The media are reporting about more “poor Palestinians” being displaced from their homes in a few West Bank (Palestinian Authority controlled?) cities. What they are not telling you is the background to these events. Israel broke ties with UNRWA recently. (Reminder: There were no UNRWA facilities in Israel until some fell into Israeli hands with … More Truce 24 Feb
Hamas did return the body of Shiri Bibas after admitting the unidentified body they originally sent was not Shiri. They also released 6 hostages on Saturday, forcing others who remained captive to watch the staged ceremony of the handover. Both of these actions look to me like intentional psychological warfare ploys. The Israeli Forensics Institute … More Truce 23 Feb
Most media reporting on yesterday’s return of bodies closed their stories before the report from the Israeli Forensic Institute was available. Maybe they left it out for other reasons. In any case, the Institute examined the corpses that Hamas gave Israel and confirmed the identification of three of them. The fourth body, purported to be … More Truce Feb 21
Today Israel TV is busy with more than the usual amount of weepy eyes and expressions of grief. Today we get back the bodies of 4 Israelis who were taken alive by Hamas and died while being held prisoner. The 4 bodies being returned to Israel are more than just 4 people who were killed … More Truce Feb 20
Wetherhorn 