JERUSALEM, Israel – The prospect of a negotiated deal to free the remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas sank to a new low over the weekend.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar made new demands in his months-long standoff with the lives of the hostages on the line.
The fighting continues in Gaza, as it seems the drive for a ceasefire ran into another roadblock. The Washington Post and Israel's Channel 12 report Hamas has introduced another obstacle to prevent a deal, demanding that Israel release 100 more terrorists serving life sentences than had been agreed upon.
Reportedly, these 100 would replace top Hamas and other terror commanders killed in Gaza. Israeli sources put the odds of a deal "at close to zero."
According to The Times of Israel, one negotiator said, "The only way forward is to end the war – keep acting to get the public behind bringing about an end to the war."
New Terror Attack on Israelis
On Sunday, a lone terrorist, a Jordanian truck driver, murdered three Israeli guards at the Allenby (King Hussein) Crossing between Jordan and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned what he called the "despicable" shooting, and pointed the blame at Iran.
"We are surrounded by a murderous ideology led by Iran's axis of evil," Netanyahu declared. "In recent days, abhorrent terrorists murdered six of our hostages and three Israel Police officers in cold blood. The murderers do not differentiate between us. They want to murder us all, right and left, secular and religious, Jews and non-Jews, until the last one.”
In Jordan, thousands celebrated the terrorist attack and the terrorist and threatened Israel
Murad Adiaileh, head of the Muslim Brotherhood Party in Jordan, warned, "We say to Netanyahu: Your entity (State of Israel) has vanished. We say to Netanyahu that your entity is vanishing and that there is no solution for you except to return to the countries from which you came. There is no place for you in Palestine.”
On another front, Hezbollah's daily attacks on northern Israel from Lebanon continue. The Iranian-backed group launched 30 missiles on Sunday alone.
Netanyahu has pledged to end that threat and his War Cabinet met this weekend to discuss a possible ground invasion of Lebanon.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant brought up the subject with troops he visited in Gaza this weekend. He said, “We are looking at all of the fronts and this means that while you are fighting here in Gaza, we are preparing for everything that could happen in the north.”
Protests Part of Hamas' Strategy
Meanwhile, as they do every weekend, a large group of protesters demanded a Gaza war ceasefire and the return of the hostages.
One of them, Meirav Peled, told reporters, “I want them all to come home, and I want them to be alive when they come home. We can’t get any more bodies, we can’t see body bags; we are fed up with the way this is being run."
This comes as the German newspaper Bild published the contents of a secret Hamas document that implies the protesters may have played into Hamas' strategy. It showed Hamas leader Sinwar's plans to deceive, manipulate international opinion, and psychologically torture the hostages' relatives.
The document reported by Bild quoted Sinwar saying, "Psychological pressure on the families of the prisoners must continue to be applied, both now and during the first phase (of hostage release as part of a deal and ceasefire) so that public pressure on the enemy government will increase."
The document also exposed how Hamas manipulated the Israeli and international media.
In case of a breakdown in talks, Hamas instructed its people to say Israel rejected the compromise proposals formulated by the U.S. regardless of the facts so that "Hamas will not be seen as responsible for the failure to reach an agreement."
The manipulation had one goal: to rebuild Hamas' military and maintain control over the Gaza Strip.
During Sunday's cabinet meeting, Netanyahu addressed the revelation. "The vast majority of Israeli citizens do not fall into this trap of Hamas," he said. "They know that we are committed with all our might to achieving the goals of the war."
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