They may not have all the bodies. I’d think there might be higher priorities than keeping track of dead enemy bodies in a war zone.
Al Jazeera reports that Israel is “exiling” some of the prisoners to third countries, rather than allowing them to return home. Is that true?
Related: what, exactly, are they “returning” by way of dead bodies? Dead bodies rot, after all.
…isn’t that Hamas’ problem to figure out before they agree to a deal that involves handing those bodies over? If we agree that I’ll sell you my dishwasher for $50, and then you show up at my house and hand me a $50 bill, and then I start moaning about how I can’t find my dishwasher now, thats on me.
Looks like some of the life sentence prisoners are being sent to Egypt instead, where the Egyptians will keep them from getting involved in politics or terror again. Great idea, if Egypt holds up their end. (And they have their own incentive to, luckily; it’s not like extremist Palestinian revanchists have a particularly rosy history with Egypt).
Yes, they should have figured out how many bodies they had access to before they made the deal. Their accounting department may not be in great shape at the moment, though.
Again, that sounds like a “them” problem.
They obviously knew that they didn’t have the bodies, and they just figured that Israel probably wouldn’t go back to fighting over a delay with dead bodies, even if Hamas is in violation of the ceasefire term. And they’re very likely right about that, so they’ll get away with it.
In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. They still have to disarm in order to move into the next phases of the peace deal. They’ll either do that (and eventually release all the other bodies), or they won’t, and it’s back to fighting. Entirely up to Hamas.
I don’t think that’s obvious at all. Gaza is kinda a mess right now. The people negotiating may not have had much idea of what was going on on the ground, or who knew what. I’m just glad they found all the living hostages. Hopefully, they will scrape up whatever remains of the bodies over the next few weeks.
(I realize there’s religious significance to getting the remains back, but I gotta say, it feels really weird to me. I certainly want closure over the death of a loved one. But I don’t think a femur would sooth my grief, or really, do much of anything for me. Yes, I’ve attended burials and scattered ashes. But I guess I see those as symbolic, I would not be into literal transubstantiation, either.)
Yeah, I agree; it’s important to the family members and I respect that, but the idea of taking any diplomatic actions or making concessions to Hamas in exchange for dead bodies rubs me the wrong way. If I was in charge of negotiations, the only thing I’d offer in exchange for dead bodies is dead bodies.
Thirded, mostly — I mean the customary Israeli trading at tens or even hundreds-to-one for the living has always struck me as something of a perverse incentive, but if even the dead are bargaining chips… I dunno ‘bout that. Yes, it’s important to me if it’s my family, but do I make it a deal-breaker for other thousands at risk?
It’s great that the hostages are back but this doesn’t seem to change much. Hamas is still in power and apparently trying to consolidate it. It’s a ceasefire waiting to collapse. I don’t see how Palestinians can separate themselves from Hamas.
You must have missed the stuff my President said yesterday. Trump told us he gets credit for his 8th successful peace negotiation and:
“This will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change,”…“not only the end of war, but the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God.”…..”it will be the golden age of Israel, and the golden age of the Middle East.”
He also said he’d disarm them if necessary.
How might he do that?
It would confirm (especially if it were a skull or multiple major skeletal parts) that the person was actually dead, and not somehow still held alive and imprisoned.
National Guard of course.
RIMSHOT
There are maybe around 15000 Hamas soldiers left. Maybe less.
There are several anti-Hamas Militias operating in Gaza.
So, if the 2 million or so Gaza people want Hamas gone, it can be done. Recent polls seem to indicate only about 40% of the population support Hamas.
So, not easy but possible.
Being ant-Hamas doesn’t mean they aren’t Islamic militants vying for power. This isn’t necessarily a budding democracy looking for a chance to break out. It’s an area with a long history of clan-like groups woven into a larger political system. This is likely why there are multiple militias fighting to begin with.
So the question is what, if any, influence can surrounding Islamic countries exert on Gaza.
I agree. I don’t know the social lay-of-the-land but hope there is an overwhelming desire to stay on their side of the fence and focus on a future that is not intent on war.
From what I’m reading in the news, I’m not sure this war is ended, or even taking a breather. Just because you stand up from the toilet doesn’t mean you’re done taking a shit.
And Trump is making empty threats to intervene while simultaneously treating war with Venezuela. And Chicago.
When asked about it he said Israeli forces could resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas won’t uphold the ceasefire deal.
It’s not much of a read-between-the lines to understand he will continue to fund the war. He doesn’t have to send in troops. They’re already there.