TEL AVIV. The wife of an Israeli hostage gave birth to her second child yesterday. But the newborn may already be an orphan. In the same hours the photo of the child’s father appeared in the meme with which Hamas, on Telegram, announced that over seventy “enemy prisoners” would die, showing the faces of some of them “eliminated” with a red X. The news was not immediately commented on by Israel, at any level. Neither the military nor the politicians spoke out. And the families of the hostages did not react, having been involved in a march for four days that started from the forest of Reim, where the Nova Festival massacre took place, and which will end in Jerusalem this evening. It is likely that at the exit of shabbaton the Saturday evening that begins the week in the Jewish lunisolar calendar, the official statements and press conferences will arrive.
Until that moment, Hamas’s version is known, entrusted to the now well-known macabre riddle on the fate of the Israeli hostages: «Are they all dead? Are they still alive? Some were killed but others survive?”. The first three names that the Islamic faction declares “killed following the Zionist bombings” in the Gaza Strip are those of Chaim Peri (79 years old), Amiram Cooper (84) and Yoram Metzger (80). The hollow, unshaven faces of the three kibbutznikim of Nir Oz had already appeared in a video from December 18, 2023 in which they implored: “Don’t let us grow old here.” The identity of four other Israeli hostages who would have met the same fate will be made known, we read in the message above Telegram“after confirming their identity.”
This is because, explains Hamas, contact has been lost with the mujahideen in charge of guarding the hostages, eliminated in the Tsahal attacks in the enclave. Together with the accusation leveled by the Palestinian faction against Israel of having committed a “massacre” of 112 Palestinians who were trying to grab humanitarian aid in transit in Gaza City, the warning that over 70 of the 134 Israeli hostages held in the Strip may be deaths is further destabilizing the negotiations for an agreement and a truce, which are already all uphill. Hamas specified, in the same message, that “the price we will ask in exchange for five or ten live prisoners is the same price we would have demanded if the enemy’s bombing had not killed them.”
The Israeli negotiators, in turn, told the intermediaries in Doha and Cairo – who earlier today had expressed optimism about a solution by the start of the month of Ramadan – that they will not agree to participate in another round of talks until the enemy counterpart presents a precise list of the living hostages. And until he makes more reasonable demands on the number of Palestinian prisoners he wants released. Not only. In this regard, Israel, according to local media, has provided Egypt with a list of off-limits names, which it is not willing to let out of the cells. After three days of negotiations in Qatar, the Israelis returned home without the expected answers.
The relationship between progress and threats to abandon the tables is still very unbalanced on the latter, despite strong international pressure. According to Wall Street Journal Hamas reportedly froze communications with mediators after the aid massacre in Gaza. France has called for an independent investigation into Thursday’s events surrounding the humanitarian convoy. President Emmanuel Macron expressed “deep indignation” and “the strongest condemnation of these shootings.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock asked the Israeli army to explain the dynamics of the events in more detail. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “deeply disturbed by the images of Gaza”, adding that “a great effort is needed to investigate what happened and ensure transparency”. Before her, the EU foreign chief, Josep Borrell, had expressed her dismay.
An in-depth investigation was also requested by the United States which, in the absence of a clearer and more complete version, nevertheless blocked a Security Council resolution with which the United Nations wanted to blame Israel for the tragedy. The need for an expansion of humanitarian aid in Gaza remains shared. Civilians in the Strip “are risking their lives to find food, water and other supplies” commented the WHO.