Gaza War: Hamas Leadership Demands Total Ceasefire Before Release Of Hostages As Israel Increases Attacks On Gaza

Israeli Media has reported that the leadership of Hamas has called for a complete ceasefire in the war before they can begin to release Israeli hostages, dismissing the offer of Israel that 10 Palestinian prisoners will be released for every Israeli captive that is returned.

In a live report from Tel Aviv, Israel, ARISE NEWS Special Correspondent, Karl Bostic, also reported that the daily death toll in the war had increased even more after the ceasefire which occurred in November.

Speaking on the state of the release of hostages, Bostic said, “Ismail Haniyeh had travelled to Egypt earlier this week only the second time since the war started, and he only travels when there is news to be made, when there is a breakthrough. Instead, reports here in the Israeli media are that he’s been embarrassed by the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who refused to accept the Israeli offer, instead, demanding a permanent ceasefire before discussing the release of those 129 hostages.

“Israeli media is saying that Israel is willing to offer 10 Palestinian prisoners for every one hostage, in other words, 40 hostages for 400 prisoners. Meanwhile, you’ve got the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that the only choice for Hamas and Gaza and for Yahya Sinwar is to surrender or die.

“Both sides need a ladder to climb down from this tree because the gap is so wide because from Yahya Sinwar’s perspective, what’s at stake is not only the survival of Hamas after the war, but also his personal survival. He’s public enemy number one, and he wants to ensure that he’s alive as a guarantee for that. So, we’re looking at a way which he can perhaps still come out of this war and still be alive and not even living Gaza. So, those are the kinds of factors that play right now for why the delay of the hostage release.”

He then touched on the increasing death toll in the war, saying, ““It’s actually gotten worse since the ceasefire back in the end of November. The average number of deaths on a daily basis was about 277 per day up until the beginning of that ceasefire. Now, since the ceasefire ended on December 1^st, it’s actually increased to more than 300 a day. What that also tells us is there’s still increased use of those unguided bombs.

“Also, to put things in further context, this exceeds the number of Palestinian casualties during the conflict after the creation of the Israeli State, that’s back in 1948 when 15,000 Palestinians were killed.”

Bostic then spoke on the resolution being arranged by the United Nations, saying that the resolution has gone back for redrafting four times, with Friday making it the fourth day of the UN trying to reach a resolution in this war.

He said, “The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield says that they will vote on this final draft, hence, that vote could come as early as today.

“The final drafting says that the Secretary General of the UN, he will appoint a coordinator who will be responsible for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying all trucks going in from Egypt into Gaza to ensure that they are about humanitarian nature.”

A poll by the Washington Institute For Near East Policy had revealed that 96% of Saudi’s believe that Arab countries should cut all ties with Israel to protest the war. According to the poll, 40% of Saudi’s expressed positive attitudes towards Hamas, compared with the 10% that was recorded in a poll several months before the war began. 95% of Saudis do not believe that October 7^th happened. Also, 95% believed the reports of civilian deaths were merely Israeli propaganda.

Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi

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