How They Were Treated

As I predicted the newly released hostages are beginning to tell us how poorly they were treated as we read in a report from the Jewish News Syndicate:

Some of the seven hostages released from Gaza during the current ceasefire had been held in Hamas tunnels for eight consecutive months, deprived of daylight and human contact, an Israeli medical official revealed on Monday.

“Some of them told us that they’ve been in the past few months, that they’ve been through the entire time, in tunnels, underground,” Reuters quoted Col. Dr. Avi Banov, deputy commander of the IDF Medical Corps, as saying.

And some were essentially in solitary confinement the whole time:

“Some of them were alone through the entire time they were there,” he continued. “Those who said they were together were in better shape.”

The hostages are getting specific help after the Israel Defense Force gave them a basic review. Hamas was better to the soon to be released hostages as part of their psychological warfare:

Banov added that the hostages reported an improvement in their treatment in the final days before their release, when they were allowed to bathe and change clothes, and were provided with better food.

But they can’t hide the overall treatment of these hostages for the vast amount of time they were held:

Some hostages had not received adequate care for wounds sustained during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and a few showed signs of “mild starvation,” Banov noted.

All are getting the needed help to improve their health with the first three discharged:

The three civilian women released on the first day of the ceasefire, Jan. 19, were discharged from Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan on Sunday, while the four female soldiers freed in the second batch on Jan. 25 are still receiving care at Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah.

Beilinson reported that the released hostages’ health is improving, with noticeable progress in nutritional and other indicators, though medical tests are ongoing.

As we already know now, three more hostages are set to be released on Thursday and three more released on Saturday:

Three hostages are to be released on Thursday—civilian Arbel Yehud, IDF soldier Agam Berger and an unidentified man. Three more abductees are to be freed on Saturday.

Will more be set free the following week? Will the deal hold up all the way to the end of the third phase? We simply don’t know, but what we do know is that Hamas always break deals, it’s only a matter of time. Most likely they will shoot a rocket at the IDF remaining in Gaza and blame it on another terrorist group like the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. And then they will say that the overall deal is not worth ending over a small attack. We shall see, but I am happy that more hostages are coming home until then.

Netanyahu Is Coming To Town

It’s official now: Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to visit the Whie House next week as we’re told in an article from The Jerusalem Post:

The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump had invited Benjamin Netanyahu for a meeting at the White House on February 4.

The announcement followed Trump’s statement on Monday that he planned to speak to Netanyahu, who would be traveling to Washington to meet with him.

We already knew it would happen at some point and now it’s scheduled. While Netanyahu is crossing the ocean to meet Trump, the US Middle East Envoy is working on talks about the second phase of the current hostage deal:

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the meeting would take place “very soon.” Ahead of the meeting, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, has begun discussions on Phase Two of the Israel-Hamas hostage deal, sources told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday evening.

Witkoff, who is set to arrive in Israel on Wednesday, will discuss with Netanyahu the next phase of the deal, which will include the release of all the remaining 64 hostages from Hamas captivity, some of whom are confirmed to be dead.

Those who negotiated the deal are acting like the second phase is going to happen:

The talks are officially supposed to start only on Monday, day 16 of the ceasefire, according to the original signed deal. However, Qatar and the US have already started discussions on the issue.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the next phase with Qatar:

On Tuesday, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In a statement published by the Qatari foreign office, “The two expressed hope that the hostage deal would reach its second phase and become permanent.”

Houston, We Have A Problem

All this hope and smiley faces about the deal misses the big elephant in the room:

Netanyahu has stated that Israel would oppose any deal that will officially end the war in Gaza or that will deny Israel the ability to return and fight, leaving Hamas in power.

This one point is huge and means that the deal cannot make it over the finish line. And adding to that is relocating Gazans to Jordan and Egypt:

Another issue that will probably be raised in the Wednesday meeting between Witkoff and Netanyahu is Trump’s recent statements regarding a proposal to move Gazans to Egypt and Jordan.

The president said he had discussed the issue with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and said, “We helped them a lot, and I’m sure he’d help us. He’s a friend of mine. I think he would do it, and Jordan would do it too.”

Some deny those talks ever happened:

A senior Egyptian official denied reports of a phone call between Trump and Sisi, Al-Qahera News reported on Tuesday.

And others suggested that if the talks of it continue it could hurt the two countries:

Three sources told the Post that Egypt and Jordan conveyed a message to people close to Trump that if he presses on with his plan, it might hurt normalization efforts. The sources added that they feared the move might impact the stability of the two countries.

But leaders in the region could also play a part in it happening:

Egypt and Jordan have already opposed the idea publicly, but the new warning by other Arab countries is likely to influence the chance of it gaining any traction.

The logic is that Gazans can’t really live in the current state of the area so move them while the reconstruction happens:

“I’d like to get them living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence,” Trump said of Palestinians in Gaza.

Trump’s comments come after he floated the idea over the weekend that Egypt and Jordan, which border Israel and the West Bank to the south and east, respectively, should take in Palestinians from Gaza because “almost everything is demolished and people are dying there.”

He also stated that he did indeed talk to the king of Jordan first:

The new US president said he made the request in a phone call with Jordan’s King Abdullah on Saturday.

I might add that Trump is laying out a plan that doesn’t take into account the mindset of these Gazans and terrorists who see standing on top of ruins is a victory. To them it shows anyone including themselves that they didn’t lose because they’re still standing. The great Israel didn’t displace them and the bigger United States with all their military power and money couldn’t help either. As much as I see Trump’s logic someone needs to also tell him the thinking of these people so that can also be a factor. But the more I think about it, Trump’s relocation idea could be a way to deal with that victory mindset. He may just be crazy like a fox after all.