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Hostage Deal: Cautious Optimism as Hamas Drops Maximalist Demand
A person walks past pictures of hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas from Gaza, projected on a screen, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 31, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Marko Djurica
i24 News – Negotiations for a hostage release agreement for the Israeli hostages and a cease-fire in Gaza finally seem to be on the right track, even though, as former intelligence officer Raphael Jerusalmy told i24NEWS, “Hamas is used to saying ‘yes,’ then ‘but.’” The terrorist group particularly refuses an independent foreign Arab presence governing Gaza after the war, “which could represent a significant drawback” to any deal.
Among the points on which the two parties agree is the timing of the release of the Israeli hostages. A high-ranking Hamas source said on Saturday that the revised proposal provided for talks for the release of the Israeli hostages, including soldiers and “young and healthy” men, to begin within a period of 16 days after the start of the first phase of the agreement.
.@perry_dan: the very fact that Hamas is discussing the deal with Hezbollah suggests we could be seeing the moving of the needle pic.twitter.com/hZri5YQwLm
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) July 6, 2024
The mediators also guaranteed a temporary ceasefire, the delivery of aid, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops as long as the indirect talks continued during the first phase, which is expected to last six weeks, and the transition to the second phase of the agreement.
The Islamist terrorist group has, above all, abandoned the requirement that Israel lay the groundwork for a permanent ceasefire before committing to any deal, and accepts that negotiations for a “lasting calm” take place during the first phase, and not before.
A source from the Israeli negotiation team claimed that, with Hamas having given up on this key point, the agreement now has a “real chance of succeeding.”
A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, said that the groups was “awaiting a response from Israel to its ceasefire proposals in Gaza today or tomorrow. If the response is positive, we will discuss the proposals in detail. The movement’s military capabilities in the Gaza Strip are still in a good position to continue the war.”
Netanyahu declared on Friday that negotiations will continue next week.
The post Hostage Deal: Cautious Optimism as Hamas Drops Maximalist Demand first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op
DF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
i24 News – The Israeli military eliminated 250 Hezbollah terrorists including 21 commanders in four days of ground combat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday.
IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon have uncovered vast caches of weapons and munitions in civilian residences, showing how central embedding within civilian population is to Hezbollah’s mode of warfare.
Meanwhile, heavy strikes targeting the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh in southern Beirut were ongoing, Lebanese media reported.
The post 250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says
Illustrative. Hodeidah, Yemen, July 20, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
Airstrikes were launched on Friday at several parts of Yemen including its capital Sanaa and Hodeidah airport, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement controlling much of Yemen, and residents said.
Strikes also targeted the south of Dhamar city and the southeast of al-Bayda province, the channel added.
Residents said that the attack on al-Bayda province targeted several Houthi military outposts.
Al Masirah TV reported that the strikes had been carried out by the United States and British forces, but a British government source said Britain was not involved.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel‘s war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
Following the airstrikes, a Houthi spokesman called the attack “a desperate attempt,” adding that “Yemen will not be deterred by these attacks and will continue its steadfastness in confronting the enemies.”
The post Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
JNS.org – An Israeli Air Force fighter jet conducted a rare strike in Tulkarem in the West Bank on Thursday night, targeting top Hamas terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.
The Palestinian Authority reported at least 18 fatalities in the strike, with a local security source telling Agence France-Presse it was the deadliest in Judea and Samaria since the Second Intifada.
Ayyth Radwan, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem branch, was also reportedly killed.
Oufi was planning a terrorist attack “in the immediate time frame,” according to the Israel Defense Forces, and directed the thwarted car bombing last month near Ateret in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
There were no casualties in the incident, which Israel Ganz, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, called a “great miracle.”
The IDF said Oufi was involved in smuggling weapons to terrorists who perpetrated several recent attacks against Israelis, including some that resulted in injuries to civilians.
He also “worked to establish terrorist networks on behalf of Hamas and assisted terror operatives in the area to carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks,” added the military.
The post IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.