RSS
Hamas Leader’s ‘Days Are Numbered,’ Says US Official
Yahya Sinwar, head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City on April 14, 2023. Photo: Yousef Masoud / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
i24 News — Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s days “are numbered,” a senior Biden administration official said Thursday, pledging that “justice will be served.”
Coinciding with a visit to the region by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, the official said of Sinwar, “I think it’s safe to say his days are numbered … He has American blood on his hands.”
Sinwar, who runs Hamas in the Gaza Strip, is part of a group of Hamas higher-ups who planned the terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.
Sullivan visited Israel on Thursday, meeting twice with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A meeting with Israel’s full War Cabinet was sandwiched in between.
Sullivan also met individually with Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and War Cabinet member and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz. A meeting with Mossad Director David Barnea stretched from one hour to two, focusing on the hostage situation in Gaza.
Sullivan’s trip to Israel comes amid vocal frustration from US President Joe Biden and others regarding the growing civilian death toll in Gaza amidst Israel’s operation to root out Hamas terrorists, who hide and operate amongst the civilian population and below ground.
The official said the second Sullivan-Netanyahu meeting focused on expectations “as we move through the course of the coming weeks or towards the end of the year and into the early part of January.”
Overall, the official said the two talked about the humanitarian situation, military campaign strategy, and threats from Iran’s other regional proxies, including the Houthis and Hezbollah.
I met today with @IsraeliPM, @yoavgallant, @gantzbe,@Tzachi_Hanegbi, & the War Cabinet in Tel Aviv to discuss our shared objective of defeating Hamas while minimizing harm to civilians & ensuring the increased and sustained flow of humanitarian assistance. https://t.co/3BKFb3bhBa
— Jake Sullivan (@JakeSullivan46) December 15, 2023
Amidst multiple media reports that the Biden administration is instructing Israel to wind down its operation in Gaza in the coming weeks, the official disputed the accuracy of such reports, telling journalists that the White House was more concerned with the intensity of the IDF’s assaults, and less so with particular time frames.
United States and Israeli officials are focusing on a shift from high-intensity operations to one of high-value targets in a lower-intensity environment, the official emphasized.
“Heavy discussions” were held on Israel’s need to protect Gazan civilians, and the humanitarian situation in Gaza was a focal point.
The Biden administration has been pushing Israel to focus more on the future of Gaza, and what will happen once Hamas is no longer in power there. The White House’s stated preference is for a “revamped, revitalized” Palestinian Authority (PA) to resume the control it lost to Hamas in 2007. Netanyahu is insistent that the PA will play no part in a post-Hamas leadership role in Gaza.
The senior official on Thursday danced around a question about what exactly would define a revitalized PA, which is largely seen as broken and corrupt. Sullivan is set to meet on Friday with PA officials, focusing on maintaining a measure of stability in the West Bank.
The official insisted there is a role for the PA in a future Gaza.
“There are a number of security personnel linked to the Palestinian Authority, which we think might be able to provide some sort of a nucleus in the many months that follow the overall military campaign. But this is something we’re discussing with the Palestinians and with the Israelis and with regional partners. It very much remains a work in progress,” the official said.
Regardless of the exact security structure, the Israeli government is adamant that the Biden administration’s insistence on revving up a pathway to a two-state solution, especially in light of Oct. 7, is a non-starter.
The official said on Thursday that conversations in Jerusalem have touched on what might be a potential alternative in the Israelis’ minds.
“I think we’ve actually had quite constructive conversations about where this heads,” said the official.
The post Hamas Leader’s ‘Days Are Numbered,’ Says US Official first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
The post Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
The post Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
The post Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.