The fate of the hostages in Gaza hangs in the balance. According to the media, Hamas leader Sinwar is calling for an end to the war, which Israel rejects. Is he playing for time? The news at a glance.
According to a media report, Israel has given the Islamist Hamas one week to agree to a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza war. Otherwise, the announced military offensive on the city of Rafah will proceed, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Friday evening, citing Egyptian officials familiar with the matter. Indirect negotiations over the release of hostages and a ceasefire will continue this weekend in Cairo, it said. Hamas confirmed on Friday evening that its delegation would arrive on Saturday. Hamas circles said there were still points to be discussed and clarified, but the answer would be “positive.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Egypt worked with Israel on a revised ceasefire proposal that it presented to Hamas last weekend. Hamas’ exiled political leadership was expected to consult and respond to its military wing in the Gaza Strip, led by Jihia al-Sinwar. But Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding in tunnels under the coastal area and making the final decisions, did not respond, they said. Egyptian officials then brought the message from Israel to Hamas on Thursday. Israel had announced a rapid start to the offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza if an agreement was not reached.
Israel: Hamas massacre victim found dead
A victim of the Hamas massacre was found dead in Israeli territory months after the attack. This was announced by the Israeli armed forces. The man was murdered in the terrorist attack carried out by the Islamist Hamas from the Gaza Strip on October 7th of the previous year, the statement said. Since his body has only just been found, it was previously assumed that the terrorists had kidnapped him as a hostage in the Gaza Strip.
The army has informed the victim’s relatives. The remains were identified through detailed forensic examinations. The hostage forum said on Friday that the man was working as a security guard for the Nova music festival, which was held near the Gaza border. In this role, he saved numerous festival guests from the terrorists of Hamas and other extremist Palestinian groups before he was murdered himself.
Houthi militia plans attacks in the Mediterranean
The Houthi militia in Yemen announced an expansion of its attacks on merchant ships in the Mediterranean. A spokesman for the group told supporters in the Yemeni capital Sanaa that from now on ships traveling in the Mediterranean to Israeli ports should also be attacked. According to experts, the Houthis have missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers and could therefore theoretically carry out their threat.
The Houthi militia, allied with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, has for months attacked merchant ships passing its coast in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea and the wider Indian Ocean. Yemen is located on one of the world’s most important trade routes, connecting Europe with Asia. The Houthis are also said to have taken part in the Iranian attack on Israel with rockets and drones in mid-April. However, the attack was largely repelled by Israel and its allies.
The Houthis say they want to force an end to the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. In the event of an offensive on the city of Rafah in the south of the coastal strip, the Houthi spokesman announced that the attacks would be expanded to all ships whose operators had business contacts with Israel. Previously, ships that were traveling to or from Israel or owned by Israeli, British or US companies were targeted.
Israel files complaint over Turkish trade boycott
The Israeli government has filed a complaint with the OECD against Ankara after Turkey temporarily suspended trade with Israel because of the war in Gaza. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an “anti-Semitic dictator” who is violating international maritime law with the trade boycott and disrupting global supply chains, wrote Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat on the X platform, formerly Twitter. “We expect the OECD to take action against Turkey because of Erdogan’s delusional decision, which is damaging the entire European economy,” he added.
Turkey has suspended the export and import of all products related to Israel due to the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. The trade boycott will remain in place until the Israeli government allows unhindered access for humanitarian aid to Gaza, Ankara said. Erdogan had repeatedly sharply criticized the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip and accused Israel of “genocide” against the Palestinians.
Gaza deal depends on hardliners from Israel and Hamas
An agreement on a ceasefire in the Gaza war now depends on the two hardliners Netanyahu and Jihia al-Sinwar – the latter is the leader of Hamas in Gaza. Both futures are at stake in this war and their calculations leave little room for compromise, wrote the Wall Street Journal.
Netanyahu, against whom a corruption trial has been underway for a long time, is dependent on his right-wing extremist coalition partners for his political survival. They had recently threatened to end the government if the hostage deal on the table was implemented and an operation in Rafah was called off. Even if Hamas were to accept an agreement unconditionally, it is not clear whether Israel would agree to it, wrote the Times of Israel.
Hamas leader is suspected in tunnels under Rafah
Sinwar, in turn, believed that he could survive an attack on Rafah, the Wall Street Journal quoted Arab negotiators who negotiated with him. The Hamas leader is believed to be in the Hamas tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip. According to Arab mediators, Sinwar believes he has already won the war with Israel, regardless of whether he survives it or not.
Because he brought the suffering of the Palestinians and the conflict with Israel to the center of global attention. Sinwar’s goal is to secure the release of hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages in the Gaza Strip and to reach an agreement that ends the war and ensures the survival of Hamas.
Hamas leader calls for changes to the negotiation offer
Regarding the current negotiation offer, Sinwar is demanding a guaranteed end to the war, a source close to the Hamas leader told the Israeli television station Channel 12. Israel has so far rejected this. Sinwar reportedly wants a written commitment for an “unconditional end to the fighting.”
He also demanded that the Palestinian prisoners that Israel would have to release from prisons in exchange for Israeli hostages not be barred from returning to the West Bank. Israel wants to send those serving life sentences to the Gaza Strip or abroad, according to the latest draft deal.
Sinwar is also demanding more information about materials that Israel does not want delivered to the sealed-off coastal area for reconstruction. The broadcaster Channel 12 speculates that Sinwar wants to ensure that Hamas can rebuild its tunnels.
Sinwar, born in the Gaza Strip in 1962, belongs to the founding generation of Hamas. In the early years of the Islamist movement, he was responsible for the fight against suspected collaborators with Israel within his own ranks and was involved in setting up the military wing of Hamas. Sinwar spent more than two decades in Israeli custody for the murder of, among other things, two Israeli soldiers. He used this time to learn Hebrew and study the enemy. He was released in 2011 – as one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit.
Hamas wants to continue negotiations in Cairo
In messages that Hamas’ military wing passed on to Arab mediators, Sinwar indicated that time was on his side, the Wall Street Journal continued. Because the longer he waits, the international pressure on Israel increases. Sinwar’s terrorist organization announced yesterday that it would send another delegation to Egypt to continue indirect negotiations on a hostage deal.
According to the state-affiliated Egyptian television channel Al-Kahira News, a Hamas delegation is expected to arrive in the capital Cairo within the next two days. The Egyptian mediators are now trying, with US support, to overcome the disagreements between Israel and Hamas, the TV station Channel 12 reported.
The Israeli government has announced that the offensive in Rafah will begin quickly if an agreement is not reached. Allies such as the United States have repeatedly warned Israel against a large-scale attack on Rafah because of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian internally displaced people there.
After around seven months of war, the city in the very south of Gaza is the only one in the coastal area that is still comparatively intact. The local director of the UN development agency UNDP spoke of the worst destruction in a region since the Second World War. The war was triggered by the massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7th.