Hamas Releases List

The required status list of the remaining hostages slated for release in the first phase of the current hostage deal was finally given to Israel as we see in a report from The Times Of Israel:

Israel says a Hamas list shows that eight of the 26 hostages still to be freed in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal are dead.

Government spokesman David Mencer conveys the Hamas information to journalists.

When you do the math only 18 of those still not released are still alive:

Thirty-three hostages are being freed in phase one of the deal. Seven living hostages have gone free since the deal began on January 19, and the Hamas list therefore means that 18 of the 26 remaining names on the list are alive while eight are dead.

Israel said that the Hamas list corresponds what they knew about the information:

Israel late last night said it had received a list of information on the status of the phase-one hostages from Hamas. Officials said that the Hamas document matched Israel’s existing information.

And when you take into consideration the three being released Thursday, that means only 15 more are still alive:

Israel has said the next release, of three hostages — including Arbel Yehoud and Agam Berger — will take place on Thursday, followed by another three hostages to be released on Saturday.

I searched and searched and no names of the living and dead is posted making some still wonder which of their loved ones is coming home alive:

The 33 names on the list are women, the Bibas family children, men aged over 50, and unwell and injured men. The IDF said on Saturday that it had “grave concerns” regarding Shiri Bibas and her two young sons Ariel and Kfir.

Whether hostages are alive or dead inside Gaza has been a heartbreaking question for waiting families who have pushed Israel’s government to reach a deal to free them, fearing that time was running out.

Eighty-seven of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

According to CNN.com, Mencer also said that the 8 who are dead were killed by Hamas. Hamas has declined to respond to that claim, though. I will say that this list raises doubts on how many of the other hostages are still alive. And I think there are more tricks being played by Hamas to extend the war like allowing people to go back to northern Gaza to try and live which will only make it harder to root out the terrorists later when the ceasefire is over. How do we know that hostages aren’t being moved around in those masses? But of more concern is how many terrorists are in those crowds and are going right back to the tunnels left? Let me just say that this was a bad deal from the start and I pray that Israel has unknown reasons for taking it.

Hezbollah Isn’t Happy

We hear in another article from The Times Of Israel that Hezbollah won’t agree to the extension of the truce to stop the fighting in Lebanon:

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem says that the group would not accept any justification to extend the period given for Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon.

Now just what they’ll do about isn’t known, but from previous comments Qassem might be setting up going back to attacking northern Israel and using these developments as an excuse to do it. Israel still maintains that it is the Lebanese army isn’t holding up its end of the deal:

Israel said on Friday that its army’s withdrawal would last beyond the 60-day period stipulated in the ceasefire agreement with the Lebanese group, saying the terms of the deal had not been fully enforced by the Lebanese state.

Israel did get the extension, though:

The US and Lebanon announced that the ceasefire period would be extended until February 18.

Trusting Lebanon is part of the problems as we see in an article from WMD.com

With a precarious security situation in Lebanon marred by the deaths of some 22 people on Sunday, who encouraged by Hezbollah operatives encroached on IDF positions in the south of the country, the news a senior Lebanese intelligence chief passing on secrets to the Iranian terrorist proxy could hardly have come at a worse time.

And the leaked information came during the actual negotiations for the ceasefire:

According to a an exposé published in the Times of London, Suhil Bahij Gharb leaked secrets to Hezbollah during the ceasefire agreement with Israel. The report stated "sensitive information" was leaked to the terrorist organization from a security control room managed by the United States, France, and the so-called U.N. peacekeeping force, or UNIFIL.

The depth of collusion between UNIFIL – another U.N. organization, just like UNRWA, which seems to exclusively be working for the terrorists – and Hezbollah has not been in question.

It is this cozy arrangement between Hezbollah and Lebanon that should raise concerns about the Lebanese army’s to keep the terrorists in check:

However, the revelation about the depth of collaboration between the Lebanese Army and the Iranian proxy, at a time when the IDF and Israel is supposed to rely on the former to patrol the border area the Israeli military currently occupies, is of deep concern.

It could also be yet another way the ceasefire ends:

The Times alleged the information Gharb passed to Hezbollah jeopardized the ceasefire, which took months of careful negotiation and shuttle diplomacy from the likes of former Biden advisor Amos Hochstein to achieve.

Worse yet, Gharb appears to not be the only leaker:

To make matters additionally serious, it is thought Gharb was far from the only Lebanese Army intelligence operative to pass on information to Hezbollah. Their advanced warnings of planned raids or patrols allowed the terrorist group hide weapons and evade exposure.

Such collusion is helping Hezbollah to stay in the region when they are supposed to vacate it:

"Hezbollah is using internal and sensitive information regarding the Lebanese army to conceal its operations from international bodies tasked with regional security," the intelligence document charged.

Gharb, a Shiite Muslim, was said to have been allowed to enter the international situation room at the insistence of the senior Hezbollah commander Wafiq Safa, who heads the terrorist organization's Liaison and Coordination Unit and reportedly survived an Israeli assassination attempt on Oct. 10, 2024.

Sure, let’s turn over the region to the Lebanese because they are neutral in this fighting they said. Sure, the Lebanese army is up to the task they told us. And sure, Hezbollah will honor the agreement and not interfere with it they assured us. Folks, this ceasefire was a bad idea from the start and I would encourage the Trump administration to revisit it because there is absolutely no way it will continue to work, if it every did. Rumor has it that Prime Minister Netanyahu is coming to America to talk with Trump and I hope and pray that these world leaders bring this up then. My opinion is that Hezbollah isn’t moving its weapons because they fully intend to attack Israel soon along with Hamas and any other Iranian proxies and they are using this lull in the action to prepare. Your prophetic mileage may vary, but it’s only a matter of time.