So much for the 10 am swap, and perhaps for Joe Biden’s ‘cease fire’ deal. Despite both the White House and Qatari officials spending the day slapping each other’s backs over the hostages-for-prisoners deal, it turns out that something important has yet to materialize.
Like, say … an actual agreement. According to two Israeli media outlets, Hamas still has not signed off on the deal:
Israeli media reports that the release of the children will be delayed 24 hours because the agreement was not signed yet by Hamas and Qatar.
Torture for the families. Utter mental torture. https://t.co/7SQRQTBvFy
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 22, 2023
The chair of the Israeli national security council announced the delay, the Times of Israel reported, and made it sound as though the negotiations have not yet concluded:
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said earlier today that the deal would go into effect at 10 a.m. on Thursday and hours later, a senior Israeli official briefing reporters on condition of anonymity confirmed as much.
But Hanegbi, in his statement, says that “the negotiations for the release of our hostages are constantly progressing.”
“The release will begin according to the original agreement between the parties, and not before Friday,” he adds.
The ToI update also includes a report from an unnamed source that the agreement hasn’t been signed yet:
The source also says that a truce document still needs to be signed by the parties, a finalization that is expected over the next 24 hours.
Did someone miss a step here? If Hamas has not yet put a signature on the document, why were Biden’s team and the Qataris patting themselves on the back all day long? And what makes anyone trust that Hamas will actually stick to a pledge to sign the document, or for that matter, stick to a ‘pause’ even if they do sign one?
The Israelis are prepared for the swap, if it takes place. The Jerusalem Post lays out the process by which both Israel and Hamas will alert the Red Cross as to the identities of those being exchanged. That, however, got reported when the Israelis still expected the first releases to come tomorrow:
Mossad Director David Barnea visited Qatar to discuss the hostage release deal with the Prime Minister and other Qatari officials, it was reported on Wednesday.
There, Barnea received the list of received hostages who are expected to be released on Thursday. Accompanying Barnea is Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, who was appointed to handle a variety of security and intelligence operations issues related to the hostages.
Every day, Barnea will receive a list with the names of the hostages who will be released the following day, according to N12. Israel will then, according to the hostage list, prepare their own list of security prisoners it will release. The lists will be sent to the Red Cross on both sides. …
The families of the released hostages will be notified of their release only when they are handed over to the IDF, N12 reported. 10 hostages will be released every day of the ceasefire, according to the report. Hamas will determine the order of release of the hostages and Israel will determine the identity of the prisoners to be released.
Perhaps Hamas is withholding its signature for a last-minute renegotiation over the security of their leadership. Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear today that the ‘pause’ applies only to Gaza. Hamas leadership elsewhere, Netanyahu declared, are fair game at any time, and he has ordered the Mossad to go after the two Hamas leaders living high on the hog elsewhere:
After a reporter mentions a (Hebrew) report asserting that Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashaal have been saying they expect to continue ruling Gaza after the war, Netanyahu says that he has “instructed the Mossad to act against the heads of Hamas wherever they are.”
Asked whether the truce applies to targeting Hamas chiefs — a presumed reference to those abroad — Netanyahu says there is “no such obligation.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant weighs in to say all Hamas leaders are walking dead. “They are living on borrowed time,” Gallant says of the terror chiefs. “The struggle is worldwide: From gunman in the field to those who are enjoying luxury jets while their emissaries are acting against women and children, they are destined to die.”
That declaration might have Haniyeh and Mashaal going back to the Qataris for a new round of bargaining over their own personal security. Presumably, the Mossad would refrain during a four-day ‘pause’ to keep from getting blamed for a potential collapse of the deal. Netanyahu won’t let them rest easy, though, nor should he.
For now, don’t bet on anything happening around a swap, let alone on Friday. In the meantime, let’s watch video of the tunnels underneath al-Shifa whose existence Western media denied. Everyone knew about them, so even this video won’t convince those denying that Hamas exploited hospitals and other civilian infrastructure to create human shields against Israeli responses to their attacks. The denial has nothing to do with truth — and it has everything to do with destroying Israel.
They mocked it when Israel said there are tunnels under Shifa hospital.
“LOL, it's an elevator shaft”, they said, when the entrance to tunnels was uncovered.
How about this? 👇
Enough evidence?— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) November 22, 2023
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