UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – According to the results of an investigation, three soldiers, whose remains had been brought back in December by Israel, were killed in a strike to eliminate a Hamas commander, Ahmed Ghandour.
The Israeli army announced on Sunday that three hostages who died in Gaza in November have been “probably” killed by an Israeli strike, according to an investigation into the circumstances of their deaths. On the Hamas side, less than a week after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that the terrorist movement “didn’t exist anymore” As a military formation in Gaza, a group official says their ability to fight Israel remains “high” despite the losses. The Figaro provides an update on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Three hostages were “probably” killed in an Israeli strike in November
In December, Israel returned the remains of soldiers Nick Beizer and Ron Sherman and French-Israeli Elya Tolédano from the Gaza Strip, where they were being held hostage. “According to the results” of an investigation into the deaths of these three hostages, “There is a strong likelihood that the three were killed as a result of an airstrike by the army (…) on November 10, 2023″the army said in a statement on Sunday.
The army said they were killed “during the elimination of the commander of the Hamas Northern Brigade, Ahmed Ghandour”. “The investigation indicates that the three hostages were being held in an underground complex from where Ghandour was operating.”the statement added, specifying that the army had not “no information on the presence of hostages in the targeted complex” by the strike. Hamas had confirmed in late November that Ahmed Ghandour had been killed by the Israeli army. A relative of one of the three hostages confirmed to AFP that he had been informed of the results of this investigation a few hours before the publication of the statement.
Hamas’s ability to fight Israel remains ‘high’
A senior Hamas official said Sunday that the Palestinian Islamist movement’s ability to fight Israel remained “high”despite the losses suffered during more than eleven months of war in the Gaza Strip. “The resistance’s capacity to continue is high”Osama Hamdan said in an interview with AFP. “There were martyrs and sacrifices (…), but in return, there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations within the resistance”he added.
The statements come less than a week after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that Hamas “didn’t exist anymore” as a military formation in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy the Islamist movement after its unprecedented attack on October 7, which killed 1,205 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Pope says he is “close” to families of Israeli hostages in Gaza
Pope Francis said on Sunday “close” families of Israeli hostages in Gaza, saying he had met the mother of one of them, whose body was recovered earlier this month, to whom he had sent his “thoughts”. “I think of the Middle East. So many innocent victims. I think of the mothers who lost their sons to war. How many young lives have been cut short?”Francis said at the end of the Angelus prayer. “I think of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was found dead in early September with five other hostages in Gaza. In November of last year, I met his mother, Rachel, whose humanity struck me. My thoughts are with her at this time.”he said. “I pray for the victims and I continue to be close to all the families of the hostages”he added.
Negotiations at an impasse
Prime Minister Netanyahu is under increasing pressure to reach a cease-fire deal coupled with the release of the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s announcement this month that the bodies of six hostages were found in a Gaza tunnel, “executed” by Hamas, sparked a wave of indignation in the country, provoking a general strike and demonstrations that continued in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem overnight from Saturday to Sunday.
But after months of negotiations through the United States, Egypt and Qatar, talks appear to have stalled, with both sides accusing each other of blocking them.
Hamas leader on Sunday accused the United States, Israel’s main supporter, of failing to exercise adequate “sufficient pressure” on their ally. “The US administration is not putting sufficient or appropriate pressure on the Israeli side. Rather, it is trying to justify the Israeli side’s withdrawal from any commitment.”he said.
In two press conferences held after the announcement of the deaths of the six hostages, Mr Netanyahu accused Hamas of refusing any compromise and said that it would not give in. “under pressure” on the sticking points. He also said that at least 17,000 Hamas fighters had been killed since the start of the war in Gaza.
Of the 251 people kidnapped in the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, 97 are still being held in the Gaza Strip, 33 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli military. The Israeli response has left at least 41,206 dead in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the territory ruled by Hamas since 2007, which does not specify the number of civilians and fighters killed.
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