GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 336

The Devil’s In The Details

More Proof

We see more information about how Hamas is manipulating the public in its war against Israel in a report from The Times Of Israel:

A recent Hamas document quoted by a German newspaper reveals details about the psychological warfare campaign carried out by the terror group since it kidnapped 251 hostages, mostly civilians, during its October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

The newspaper said that Hamas is intentionally harming the hostages:

Citing the document, the Bild tabloid reports that Hamas is abusing the hostages held in Gaza to improve its position in hostage-ceasefire negotiations with Israel and ultimately recover military capabilities destroyed during the ongoing war.

The file was penned before October 7th:

The Hamas document, reportedly written in the Spring of 2024, was said to have been personally approved by the terror group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, having been found on his computer. No details are given as to how it was passed to the German publication.

Details from the document were provided:

“Continue to exert psychological pressure on the families of the prisoners, both now and during the first phase (of the ceasefire), so that public pressure on the enemy government increases,” the Hamas document reportedly says.

As Prime Minister Netanyahu also detailed this week, videos will be used:

Since October 7, the terror group has regularly released videos of the hostages criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and begging for him to secure their release.

Humanitarian deeds were also part of the strategy to make the terrorists look more human:

“During the negotiations for the second phase, Hamas will allow the Red Cross to visit some of the prisoners as a gesture of goodwill and to convey messages to their relatives,” the document is quoted as saying.

Proof of how harshly the hostages are being treated was given:

Hebrew media reported earlier this week that Eden Yerushalmi, whose body was recovered from Gaza last weekend along with five others after they were murdered a day or two before the army reached them, appeared to have been starved and had lost 10 kilos in captivity, weighing only 36 kilos (79 lbs) when she was recovered.

Since it was written before the attacks no mention of southern Gaza plans are seen:

The Bild report notes that the document does not mention the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt, which is understood to be one of the current sticking points in ongoing indirect negotiations.

However this point makes total sense now:

The report says that Hamas is not seeking a fast end to the war in Gaza, but rather purposely drawing out hostage-ceasefire negotiations to increase pressure on the government and “exhaust” the military.

Can you say I told you so?

Activist Killed

I’m going to address this briefly now because we need to wait until we can verify exactly what happened, but initial reports are saying that a Turkish-American activist died after being shot as we learn from an article from The Jerusalem Post:

American-Turkish human rights activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, succumbed to her wounds on Friday after being shot in the head by Israeli forces during a weekly protest against settlement expansions in the West Bank, according to Palestinian Authority-run news outlet Wafa.

The area is known for protests:

During the weekly protest in Beita, south of Nablus in the West Bank, IDF soldiers opened fire at the protesters using live ammunition, the report noted. Eygi was subsequently critically wounded in the head. The 26 years old activist was evacuated to Rafida Hospital in Nablus, where she later died.

Unfortunately, she died at the hospital:

Fouad Nafaa, the head of the Rafidia Hospital, told Reuters that a woman arrived at the hospital in a very critical condition with a serious head injury.

"We tried to perform a resuscitation operation on her, but unfortunately, she died," he said.

The Palestinian Authority or PA source said this:

Wafa’s report noted that the IDF used live ammunition, stun grenades, and tear gas in an attempt to disperse the protest in Beita, which, in addition to fatally wounding Eygi, caused shrapnel to injure an 18-year-old Palestinian.

The deceased was part of a Palestinian movement:

Eygi was part of the Faz'a campaign, which supports Palestinian farmers against military and settler violations. Additionally, similar to Rachel Corrie, who was killed in Rafah in 2003 while attempting to interfere with IDF operations, Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led movement.

Protests in Beita are frequent, with tensions high over Israeli settlement activities in the area, according to Wafa.

We need to keep in mind that this report used information from a source that is far from impartial. The IDF is looking into it to verify things:

The Israeli military stated that during a violent public disorder, stones were thrown at IDF forces, who responded by shooting at the lower body of the main instigator of the rioters, according to the IDF.

Additionally, the Israeli military said it was investigating the reports, emphasizing that the details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.

The IDF has yet to respond to The Jerusalem Post's request for a comment on the incident.

While I suspect that the PA is putting out pure propaganda, we should wait before we start casting dispersions against the IDF. In the other case mentioned where a protestor died, it took 10 years before the IDF was cleared of any wrongdoing. Hopefully we’ll get a more balanced view sooner than that. In the fog of war trusting the first account is not usually a good thing.

New Demands

We read in another report from The Jerusalem Post that it is Hamas that is adding things to a hostage deal:

Hamas has added new demands to its list of conditions for a Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing one Arab and a number of American officials.

Hamas is changing how they do things because the IDF is getting closer to finding hostages. We shouldn’t be surprised that the terrorists are now upping the game now:

These new demands were added after the terror group announced last week that they would begin murdering the hostages should IDF forces get too close.

Hamas’s new execution policy was reportedly put in place after Operation Arnon, which saw four captives rescued in June.

Following Hamas’s new policy, the bodies of six hostages were recovered from a tunnel in Rafah. The IDF said they were killed only days before the military arrived.

And the Qatari leadership that is decidedly biased for Hamas sees trouble if the new demands are not pulled back:

According to the NYT, Qatar’s prime minister has been pushing for the Gaza-based terror group to compromise on its deal conditions. After months of this pressure, Hamas dropped the additions to the deal. However, two American officials claimed that the terms of Hamas’s agreement have returned to the table.

And it isn’t any surprise that Hamas, whose ranks are getting thinner every day would ask for more prisoners to be released:

Anonymous sources told the NYT that Hamas increased the number of security prisoners it demanded to be released in the opening phase of the deal.

There is now a mysterious part of the deal alluded to:

Qatar also reportedly offered Hamas three alternatively worded compromise agreements, according to Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official based in Qatar. Badran added that Hamas representatives chose one of these alternatives.

The hostage exchange appears to be a place where a deal could happen, if this Hamas official can be trusted:

The terror group also agreed to focus on the hostage-prisoner swap with a possibility to look at other issues.

“We did that because we’re keen on the issue of a ceasefire,” Badran said. “If there are some phrases that will make the negotiations easier and lead to the same result - the end of the war - we have no problem.”

But they continue to have a problem with the southern border which should make us wonder why they consider it so important:

One of the said issues is the Philadelphi Corridor, from which Hamas demands an Israeli withdrawal.

Whenever Hamas demands something you know it is for one reason and one reason alone: living as long as possible. As we’ve learned, the Corridor is important because it’s the only way Hamas can survive since they have terrorists just waiting to come into Gaza and weapons to restock their short supply. If Israel gives in to that demand the war will go on for another year or so. And the potential for more hostages being taken and killed will increase dramatically. On this pray for the peace of Jerusalem.