Hamas Psychopathy on Ego-Steroids

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting with relatives of hostages held in Gaza, at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on January 22, 2024. (Prime Minister’s Office)

"Contrary to what is [being] said, there is no genuine proposal by Hamas."

"On the other hand, there is our initiative, which I will not detail."

"If we agree to this [the Hamas demand that the Israel Defense Forces withdraw from Gaza and end its war with Hamas] we will not be able to guarantee the security of our citizens."

"We will not be able to return the evacuees safely to their homes, and the next October 7 will only be a matter of time."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Demonstrators hold up portraits of hostages held by the Hamas terror group during a rally to demand their release, near the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem on January 22, 2024. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

Israel has been attempting to negotiate through third parties with Hamas for the release of the remaining 136 Israeli hostages being held by the terrorists in Gaza. Public pressure and the desperate pleas of the hostages' families, along with the state's own fervent intention to have all Israelis rescued from the plight of further traumatic treatment at the hands of Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza have exerted pressure on the government which cannot function solely on its pledge to destroy any future capability of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to mount further attacks on Israel and its citizens. 

The Israeli Prime Minister speaking to representatives of the hostage families in a meeting, apprised them of that simple fact; no offers that could be seriously contemplated have been received from Hamas whose suggestions for the release of the remaining hostages come from a source that believes it has the upper hand in the certainty of how dearly Israelis take the well-being of their citizens to enable it to put forward the kind of offers that no sane government could ever contemplate; certainly not one tasked with the security of its nation.

Benjamin Netanyahu did on the other hand, confirm that during negotiations Hamas demanded the retreat from Gaza of the Israel Defense Forces, and that Israel commit to ending its war with the terrorist group -- a unilateral demand in that whatever Israel might commit to in withdrawing its troops and its commitment to destroy the terrorist group, Hamas would have no intention of stopping its intermittent violent attacks against Israel. Hamas's arrogance demands "the release of all the Nukhba (terrorist commando) murderers and rapists, and leaving Hamas intact."

Troops operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released on January 23, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

 

A committee session at the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem (Knesset) saw several dozen relatives of Israelis held hostage disrupt the event with demands that the lawmakers make a greater effort to free their family members. Many of the protesters carried photographs of their family members taken to Gaza. 

 

"Is it reasonable that 260 trucks of flour are entering Gaza now while my brother is eating nothing", Adi Angrest shouted. His brother Sgt. Matan Angrest remains a  hostage in Gaza. "It doesn't make any sense that my brother isn't eating anything when they bring them [Palestinians] 260 trucks of flour!"

 

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu was in Israel to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Issues being discussed included the Paris-brokered agreement where medicines were to be delivered to Israeli hostages suffering from chronic illnesses that were destined to be provided to them entered the Gaza Strip last week and which the International Committee of the Red Cross stated they had no intention of delivering to the hostages. Instead, they said, the deliveries would be entrusted to Hamas. 

Mr. Lecornu was informed by Netanyahu that he is awaiting evidence that any of the medicines had actually reached the Israeli hostages, emphasizing that the implementation of the agreement must be monitored. Official Israeli figures state that 136 hostages remain in Gaza out of the total of 240 taken there on October 7. An unknown number are believed to have been killed there. 100 of the hostages had been released in November through a deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar.

Israeli authorities have no reason to believe that the hostages received any of the life-saving medications prescribed for their medical conditions. Instead, there is a common belief that just as Hamas operatives had commandeered much of the fuel, food, water and medicines sent by the international community into Gaza through border crossings to alleviate Palestinian shortages, so too did the Hamas terrorists advantage themselves with the delivery into their hands of medications meant for ailing Israeli hostages.

Friends and family members mourn during the funeral of IDF soldier Hadar Kapeluk in the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on January 23, 2024, a day after he was killed in combat in the Gaza Strip (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)