Israel Briefing Day 514: Israel tries to force Hamas’ hand over ceasefire

Kan’s report comes on the heels of Israel’s unexpected move yesterday to halt aid shipments to Gaza. The aim of this measure, and others under discussion, is to force Hamas’s endorsement of an Israeli-American plan to continue the ceasefire and free more hostages and Palestinian prisoners, but without talks over guarantees to end the war or talks over long-term plans for Gaza that were expected in the original ceasefire roadmap.

Hamas is currently refusing to consider this approach, and wants to only continue the ceasefire if talks are held on these long-term questions as was originally scheduled.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about his position last night, saying: “Israel has accepted President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff’s plan to extend the temporary ceasefire by 50 days, during that time we can discuss the conditions for a permanent ceasefire that will end the war in Gaza.

“In Witkoff’s plan, half of the hostages would be released right away and the remaining half would be released if we reach an agreement on a permanent ceasefire. Again, Israel has accepted this plan. I accepted this plan. But so far, Hamas has rejected it. Hamas had also put forward positions for a permanent ceasefire that are totally unacceptable.”

After Israel’s announcement yesterday that aid deliveries were being halted, the backlash from the international community was swift. There was strong condemnation from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and humanitarian organisations.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called the move “a flagrant and clear violation of humanitarian law,” while Saudi Arabia labelled it “a tool of extortion.” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described Israel’s decision as “alarming.”

But Netanyahu defended the action, stating: “We’ve done [this] because Hamas steals the supplies and prevents the people of Gaza from getting them. It uses these supplies to finance its terror machine, which is aimed directly at Israel and our civilians – and this we cannot accept.”

Elsewhere, the British-Israeli former hostage Emily Damari has undergone surgery at Sheba Medical Center to fix the botch job that “Dr Hamas” did on her hand, which sustained gunshot wounds when she was abducted. Terrorists shot her in the hand and leg, then denied proper treatment for 15 months.

“The doctor at Shifa Hospital [in Gaza] told me, ‘I am Dr Hamas,’ before stitching me up without anaesthesia,” she recalled, according to Israeli media. “They gave me an expired bottle of iodine and left me to rot.”

Damari added that she had an an "open, festering wound" during her captivity. Her mother, Mandy Damari, said: “She was sewn like a pin cushion. The fact she survived without a fatal infection is a miracle.” Emily alo praised the Israeli doctors and nurses who treated her yesterday and said the pain is already subsiding.

And, at the Oscars, a film by Israeli-Palestinian co-directors won the award for Best Documentary Feature last night.

No Other Land is highly critical of Israel’s conduct towards a particular Palestinian village. The Israeli filmmaker behind it, Yuval Abraham, spoke in his acceptance speech about what he called the “atrocious destruction” of Gaza and also said that Israeli hostages who were “brutally taken” in the “crime” of 7 October must be freed.

Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar lamented the award, writing on social media: “The Oscar win for the film No Other Land is a sad moment for the world of cinema. Instead of presenting the complexity of Israeli reality, the filmmakers chose to amplify narratives that distort Israel’s image vis-à-vis international audiences.”

Back in Israel, a tragic funeral took place yesterday – the octogenarian Shlomo Mantzur, who was kidnapped, killed in Gaza, and whose body was returned last week. Israelis lined the route of the vehicle carrying his body as a mark of respect.

Born in Baghdad, he survived the 1941 Farhud pogrom, a spree of violence directed against Jews in the city, before immigrating to Israel. “He helped to found Kibbutz Kissufim, where he was buried and regarded – according to locals – as ‘the heart of our community’,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said at the funeral, addressing Mantzur: “I ask you for forgiveness for not being able to protect you in the place that was supposed to be your fortress.”

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, set to step down this month, has spoken frankly about the extent of military failures on 7 October 2023 in a closed-door meeting with local officials from southern Israel.

In recordings obtained by Channel 12, he said: “As the commander of the army, I failed in providing protection for the citizens of Israel on Simchat Torah. We expected something completely different from ourselves. If I had seen this video before, I would not have thought that such a thing could happen. We see the numbers, if we believed it was possible, we would have done things differently.”

He said that the dots could have been connected to warn of the attack, commenting: “In the end, when you look at what we knew that night – and what we could have known – the gap is enormous. If there was one person seeing all this information in real time, it could have looked different.”

In related news, Channel 12’s investigation into the assault on Kibbutz Kfar Aza has revealed footage that shows Hamas terrorists moving freely through the kibbutz for hours, with little initial resistance.

Israeli Air Force aircraft targeted and struck two Hamas operatives in southern Gaza yesterday. The operatives were identified near IDF forces and posed an immediate threat, according to the military.

Meanwhile, demands for a state inquiry into the 7 October 2023 attack and the hostage crisis are reaching new heights, with hundreds of hostage families uniting to demand a probe. The October Council pressure group now represents 1,500 families and is insisting that only an official inquiry can provide answers.

Elsewhere, Egypt has completed its proposal for a Gaza reconstruction plan, which is a rival proposal to Trump’s Gaza plan. While Trump’s vision involves Gazans leaving for reconstruction, Egypt’s would keep Gazans in place. The proposal includes “secure areas” for displaced Palestinians while international firms rehabilitate Gaza’s infrastructure.

Israel has released results of its anti-terror operations in the West Bank during February, which officials say prevented imminent and future attacks, revealing that the IDF killed 25 terrorists involved in weapons dealing, bomb-making, and attack planning. Soldiers arrested 350 suspects and seized 120 weapons, as well as dismantling explosive devices.

Finally, a Beersheba man has been indicted for contacting Iranian agents and offering information on Israel’s nuclear programme. Doron Bokovza is one of numerous Israelis arrested recently in connection with allegedly providing intelligence to Iran.

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