War Is Waging Once Again In Gaza
There you go. Because you don’t know where. So, the war is waging once again in Gaza with Hamas the target. And certainly. It is clear that as much as Israelis want the hostages back and you’re seeing protests take place in Jerusalem, moves had to be made. And it would seem to me that moves had to be made for fear that Hamas was utilizing a ceasefire where, yes, Israelis were returned to Thai. Nationals returned, that American citizens were returned, and the dead bodies of Israelis were returned. Hamas is using this as a chance to refortify. Seems to me that this is about preventing that from taking place. Yinam Cohen joins me right now Council general of Israel to the Midwest, Sir, I appreciate you having the time. There was a ceasefire. And as tentative as it was, as awkward as it was, it was painful as it was for Israelis. Israeli citizens were being returned after over a year in captivity. Why put that at risk?
Israeli and American citizens were returned after more than 500 days and the cruel Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, but that stopped from happening more than three weeks ago. Hamas refuses to continue to release Israeli and American hostages, and they have refused offers made by the American administration, you know, to find a deal to release the remaining hostages. We’re talking about 59 remaining hostages. Some of them are alive. Unfortunately, others are dead. But Hamas is refusing to any American or Israeli offer. And unfortunately, we had to go back into putting more pressure on Hamas. With the strong support of the American administration.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsTrump posts message/threats to Hamas and the “people of Gaza” on Truth Social:
— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) March 5, 2025
“‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye – You can choose… Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for… pic.twitter.com/jMPwrBJFRM
Let’s discuss what we mean by stopping. How did it come to stop after moving along? What changed in the eyes of Hamas?
The first stage of the deal stopped, or you know, came to conclusion and then we wanted to extend that to guarantee to secure the release of more hostages. The personal envoy of President Trump, Mr. Witkoff, visited our region multiple times, made offers to Hamas through some of the mediators including Qatar and unfortunately, they refused to release further hostages. What Hamas and as you mentioned, what Hamas really wants to achieve right now is to take advantage of the ceasefire without releasing further hostages and taking the time to re-arm and get ready to another. Confrontation, military confrontation with Israel. We cannot allow that. Of course, we want to see ceasefire. We want to see more stability and, and, you know, come in our region. But the, you know, the precondition for that, of course, is to release the civilians that Hamas defected from their homes in Israel more than 500 days ago. Of among them, Israeli citizens, American citizens, some, many of them are still alive, unfortunately, others are dead and all of them need to go back home to their families and this is not happening, unfortunately.
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