Sure, more accurate to say that it is not actually a hamas-run website despite the (possibly unintended) confusion.
FWIW I didn’t read Dorjan’s original post as saying this website was run by Hamas; he just said it is a reminder of who Israel is at war with, and that’s exactly what it is.
And many of the horrific photos there are taken from Hamas’ Telegram accounts, so it’s not like they aren’t genuinely sourced from Hamas.
Eta: but if there was any confusion about that, clarifying it in thread as we have now done is a good thing.
Sounds like there are some delays again with the hostages, might have to do with Hamas not actually being in possession of all the hostages that they’re meant to release - Islamic Jihad apparently has at least 40, as do smaller groups and even random individuals.
Did the other groups participate in the attacks, or did hamas give hostages to them?
Yes, other groups participated in the attacks. Some coordinated with Hamas, some smaller groups (and even random individuals) joined in on the fly when they saw what was happening. (I understand that the group of men who decapitated a foreign worker with a shovel on video may not have been part of a militant group, for example - they were apparently just random guys who saw what was happening on Oct 7 and decided it would be fun to join in).
That is disturbing.
Fourth day of hostage exchange went off successfully. Looks like the ceasefire may be extended by two days as well.
The Palestinians need to put together some kind of interim government that separates them from Hamas.
Question for any of the Israelis in this thread: would you consider it offensive/defeatist for someone who was generally pro-Israel to describe Israel as being in a “no-win situation”? I used that phrase in an email to a dear friend who is passionately pro-Israel, and also very emotionally invested in the situation (her son is there now), and she has not responded at all, which is very unlike her, and now I’m wondering if I offended her; either by implying either that Israel is doomed or that I view Israel as morally deserving of being in a difficult state. Thoughts?
Apparently Hamas understood the value of the hostages and kept them fed and proteced during the war. Food is scarce everywhere in Gaza and that limited the hostage’s supplies.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/27/middleeast/israel-hamas-hostages-testimony-conditions-intl/index.html
Sounds like a great idea, but it would definitely put you on an assassination list. Hamas has Gaza locked tight.
If Israel is successful in breaking Hamas (I remain doubtful) this could create a short lived power vacuum, but I don’t see a force like the PA in a position to capitalize from it.
That is hard to do when you’re thirsty/dehydrated to the point you’ll drink brine, you’re on a starvation diet when you can find food at all, and you’re sleeping in the middle of ruins with no heat and inadequate clothing during the winter. Right now it’s a struggle for the most marginal survival.
I don’t think the average person really understands just how horrific the situation is for many average, non-Hamas Palestinians. That’s partly due to simple lack of information from inside Gaza (a lot of journalists and bloggers have been killed, along with communication blackouts), but it’s also because I don’t think the average person really wants to face the horror of what’s going on.
Rather like how a lot of people don’t really know the full horror of what happened on October 7. Some of it is the media restraining their reporting for the masses, but if you really want to know the information is out there if you look for it.
If that amount of food was what valuable and protected hostages had to eat then the people Hamas does not value are eating even less. If people have lost 10-15 pounds during that span of time they’re slowly starving to death.
I just saw this today, and you’ll never guess who’s behind the edict:
Ben Gvir’s a vile piece of pond scum, but the policy is unfortunately a sound one: things in the West Bank are as tense as they’ve ever been, and these sort of prisoner release celebrations attract hundreds or even thousands of well-wishers. The last thing anyone (other than Hamas) wants is for a bunch of celebrants to take the party to the next stage by attacking a police patrol or checkpoint. It’s not fair, but it’ll keep people on both sides from getting killed.
Who are those dudes, and sometimes women, that have been seen and photographed walking e.g. along Tel-Aviv beaches wearing casual clothing like shorts and a T-shirt but also armed with an M4, M203, or other military-looking weapons? They are not wearing any kind of uniform:
Soldiers on leave.
A different order–one limiting gatherings to no more than twenty people, say–would make sense to me. The way Gvir said it–“There are to be no expressions of joy…expressions of joy are equivalent to backing terrorism”–does not seem reasonable.
Especially since, as the article points out, some of the people released are fourteen years old, and others are held without charges.
That’s because he’s a dick who has no idea what he’s doing, who probably took a recommendation from a professional and rephrased it in the form of an asshole.
And for those not familiar with Israeli policy, that’s not a new thing. When we vacationed in Israel a few months ago, we took the train from the airport (near Tel Aviv) to Jerusalem at about the time soldiers were returning from a weekend break, and the train station was full of kids in civilian clothes with big guns. The soldiers are responsible for their guns even when they are on leave. I sat on the crowded train cuddled up next to one of those guns, which was pretty weird to me.