GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 202

Hamas Will Stop Fighting

Countries Call For Release Of Hostages

For the first time since the hostages were taken on October 7th a call for Hamas to release all remaining hostages is made as we read in an article from The Times Of Israel:

Joe Biden on Thursday led a joint statement from the leaders of 18 countries with citizens held hostage by Hamas, calling on the terror group to immediately release them from Gaza.

Hamas was quick to denounce it:

In a swift reaction, a Hamas official said US pressure had “no value.”

We get more information about the statement here:

The leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, and the United Kingdom joined Biden in the statement. Israel was not included as the focus was on international support for the effort.

The call is for more than the release of hostages, but to bring peace to the area:

“We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days. They include our own citizens. The fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza, who are protected under international law, is of international concern,” the leaders said.

“We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza and lead to the credible end of hostilities.

“Gazans would be able to return to their homes and their lands with preparations beforehand to ensure shelter and humanitarian provisions,” the statement added.

“We strongly support the ongoing mediation efforts in order to bring our people home. We reiterate our call on Hamas to release the hostages and let us end this crisis so that collectively we can focus our efforts on bringing peace and stability to the region,” the leaders said.

The statement isn’t new, but needed agreement with all nations before it could be issued:

A senior administration official told reporters in a briefing call previewing the joint statement that the US had tried to issue such a joint statement earlier on in the war, but there had been disagreements among the countries regarding the language, which prevented its publication.

A Deal Could Happen

According to a report found on i24news.tv we are told that Hamas could lay down their arms for one demand:

Khalil al-Hayya, one of the senior leaders of the terror group's political wing who has been involved in the ceasefire negotiations with Israel, sat down for an interview with the Associated Press in Istanbul where he gave the headline that Hamas could be ready to end its armed resistance.

Al-Hayya said Hamas would accept “a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the international resolutions,” along Israel’s pre-1967 borders. In return, the group’s military wing would dissolve.

For those who want to know this state would still be right inside of Israel’s current borders. In essence it would mean terrorist-minded people would still be able to carry out acts of violence as before, but without the Hamas label. The article goes on to tell us that ending the war is the key to this:

In the negotiations, Hamas has been pushing for a deal that would lead to a permanent ceasefire in order to prevent Israel from resuming its operations after hostages would be released.

“If we are not assured the war will end, why would I hand over the prisoners?” Al-Hayya told AP.

The Hamas official said the group could agree to a truce of five years or more and fold its military wing into a political party if an independent Palestinian state were to be established.

“All the experiences of people who fought against occupiers, when they became independent and obtained their rights and their state, what have these forces done? They have turned into political parties and their defending fighting forces have turned into the national army,” he said.

If we are to understand his words here, Hamas will disband only to become part of a combined army inside of Israel. Do you think Israel will allow that? I know I would be highly skeptical of such a deal.

Strike At The Core

Israel sent a message to Iran in their measured response to the barrage of missiles that they fired at Israel, but it was not the kind of strong response one former Israelis intelligence office thought it should be. We read his thoughts in an article from The Jerusalem Post:

Yossi Amrosi, former senior Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) officer and member of the IDSF security group, spoke recently on 104.5FM radio and referred to the attack targeted at Iran allegedly attributed to Israel.

Amrosi stated, "We have had an enemy who, for 45 years, has been trying to destroy us through the arms of the Iranian octopus, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, and does so insidiously so as not to affect the Iranian regime. On April 14, the regime erred and deviated from its policy and directly and forcefully attacked Israel. This was not to demonstrate its capabilities or to intimidate us, but to kill as many of us as possible. The calculated attack also took our air defense into account."

He sees this as the time to hit even harder:

Amrosi continued, "Therefore, I think there was, and maybe still is, a golden opportunity to strike at the head of the snake, and to strike the Iranian core to eradicate the threat for our grandchildren's sake, because this problem will not disappear."

If such an attack is made, Amrosi suggested it be like this:

When asked how to target the core of the regime, he replied: "We should carry out a visible and significant strike on Iran. For example, destroy an oil field and let the black smoke linger for two weeks in the skies of Tehran. Iran will be economically affected and the entire Muslim world will see our strength. Most importantly, so will the Iranian people who oppose the regime.

"On October 7, we needed a more substantial response but should not have started a full-scale war. The Iranians understood that we were capable of hitting a specific target precisely, but in the Arab world, appearances are significant, so even if we were to attack in a more substantial way, we would not elicit another Iranian response."

He then talked about the hostage situation:

Regarding the issue of the hostages, he said: "There are certain things the media is unable to cover, and I hope that things are happening behind closed doors. We have an enemy whose thinking is different, who does not care at all about human life. According to their religion, they are not allowed to compromise. I am willing to release many Palestinian prisoners. It will not solve the problem. After you return prisoners and free the hostages, Hamas will still be alive and well. They will continue to fire rockets, so what have we achieved? I do not understand why they do not invade Rafah. Only military pressure will cause Yahya Sinwar to give in. Otherwise, he can keep going like this for another year or two; why stop? They will continue firing rockets from Gaza if we abandon the territory. We need to make sure that this is the last Gaza war."

He does sound like someone who was involved in military intelligence and definitely has strong opinions on these matters. On the matter of eliminating terrorists all around Israel, it must stop. Never again means never again now to Israelis whether they are in the north fighting Hezbollah, in the south fighting Hamas or fighting in the West Bank, Yemen or Iran itself. I pray that God will give them the strength, protection, and resolve to accomplish this. Peace in Jerusalem is a good thing.