(Image via cnn.com)
Staff Writer: Akshit Bagga
Email: abagga@umassd.edu
Hamas temporarily suspended the release of Israeli hostages, citing that Israel had been violating the initial ceasefire agreement.
On February 10th, Hamas announced that it will be suspending the release of any new hostages taken into custody during the October 7th, 2023 attacks for an indefinite period. Hamas reasoned that it would do so because the Israeli side was violating the ceasefire agreement, which the two countries had initially settled upon.
Hamas has accused Israel of delaying the return of people in the northern Gaza territory for three weeks, continuing gunfire and shelling in the Gaza strip region, and refusing to allow relief materials in.
The spokesperson of Hamas’s military wing, Qassam Brigades, cited these reasons on social media, where he said the hostage-prisoner exchange “will be postponed until further notice” and until Israel “commits to and compensates for the past weeks retroactively.”
The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas began on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas launched large scale attacks on the Israeli territories.
At least 251 people were abducted and kidnapped by Hamas militants, and more than 1200 were killed. As a result, Israel declared war on Hamas, launched massive airstrikes in the Gaza territory of Palestine, and arrested several Hamas militants.
The Israel-Palestine conflict has brewed for years now, and at least 17,000 people have died in the war between the two countries.
(The Torch previously covered a detailed report on the Israel-Palestine war.)
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reacted furiously to Hamas’ announcement. In a joint statement issued with the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he emphasized that both the U.S. and Israel have a common strategy for Gaza.
The statement said, “We can’t always share the details of this strategy with the public, including when the gates of hell will be opened, as they surely will if all our hostages are not released until the last one.” It added, “We will eliminate Hamas’ military capability and its political rule in Gaza. We will bring all our hostages home, and we will ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”
The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been mediating peace talks between the warring nations. Hostage-prisoner exchange is a part of the ceasefire agreement. This specific hostage-prisoner release was set to be the fifth one since the ceasefire program began on January 19th.
The terms of the first phase of the ceasefire deal require Hamas to release 33 hostages and Israel to free 1,900 Hamas militants. It also requires Israel to allow unrestricted access to trucks carrying relief material into Gaza.
US President Donald Trump has proposed taking over the Gaza strip, depopulating the region and relocating people from Gaza.
Reacting to Hamas’ suspension, Trump said, “As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday.” He added, “We want ’em all back.”
Despite Hamas’ announcement, a hostage prisoner exchange did take place on Saturday, February 16th. Hamas released three hostages from the 2023 abduction in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners. It is believed that mounting international pressure led to this exchange.
36-year-old American Israeli citizen Sagui Dekel Chen, 29-year-old Russian Israeli citizen Alexander Trupanov, and 46-year-old Argentinian Israeli citizen Yair Horn were those released by Hamas.
On the other hand, Israel freed those who were either on life sentence or convicted for suicide bombing attacks.
One of the prominent prisoners released by Israel was Ahmed Barghouti. Ahmed has been convicted for the last 22 years for carrying out large scale attacks on Israel in the 2000s.Hamas still holds 73 hostages including New Jersey native Edan Alexander and bodies of four American citizens murdered in Gaza.