The two US hostages, Natali Shoshana Raanan and her mother Yehudit Tai, who were released by Hamas today.
Tel Aviv/Rafah Border/Washington: Do the two positive developments today (IST) – the release of two American hostages by Hamas, and the delivery of a 20-truck convoy carrying much-needed humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza – offer hope of a ceasefire in Israel?
“The Government of Israel, the IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] and the entire security apparatus will continue to do all they can, using any means available, to locate all those missing and bring home all the kidnapped,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated today.
After the release of the two hostages, the IDF made it loud and clear: “Don’t let anyone fool you, Hamas is a terrorist organization.” It claimed this evening that one in five Hamas and Islamic Jihad rockets hit Gaza in the last 24 hours.
Israel also received the 45th cargo plane from the United States to Israel this morning carrying around 1,000 tons of armaments to bolster IDF capabilities. According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Israel’s military warned it to immediately evacuate Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, where 500 patients as well as 12,0000 refugees were staying, saying it would be bombarded.
Significantly, Hamas issued a statement through the spokesperson of its armed wing, Abu Obaida, saying that all the hostages – the civilian hostages, which include the Americans – could be released if there were no airstrikes. Responding to this, the US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken declared in Washington, “I would not take anything that Hamas says at face value…Our position is clear: Every hostage needs to be released and needs to be released now”. In the same breath, he likened Hamas, Hizbollah, and Iran to destruction, death, terrorism, and darkness.
Also read: “We are obviously in the very early days of this conflict”
A joint statement from the National Security Council in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that Israelis abroad were under threat. Thereafter, Israel today raised the level of travel alerts to Egypt (including Sinai), Jordan and Morocco. Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office asked the citizens to avoid travel to any Middle Eastern or Arab countries, including Türkiye, Egypt (and Sinai), Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, until further notice. It also urged Israelis to “avoid travel to Muslim countries for which travel alerts have been issued, including Malaysia, Bangladesh and Indonesia, as well as Muslim countries with no travel alert, such as the Maldives”.
While the two hostages, mother and daughter Yehudit Tai and Natali Shoshana Raanan, were released by Hamas and transferred to the Israeli border via the Red Cross, the Israeli foreign ministry vowed, “We will do everything in our power to bring the rest of the hostages home,” the foreign ministry stated.
The President of the United States of America Joe Biden spoke this evening with the two American citizens who had been held hostage by Hamas. “We are so grateful that they are safe. We will continue to do everything we can to unite all hostages with their loved ones,” the US Embassy in Jerusalem stated.
Who is the Hamas’ Special Forces Unit and what are their terrorists capable of?
Watch for yourselves: pic.twitter.com/emexlMFtoc
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 20, 2023
In a related development today, 86 Nobel laureates submitted a petition addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and, by extension, leaders of nations across the globe, conveying a “profound moral imperative”: the immediate release of the kidnapped children in Gaza.
The laureates stated: “Throughout the annals of human history, wars have unfolded, but humanity has consistently drawn the line between acts of war and war crimes. No war should ever condone mass atrocities. No war normalizes acts of rape and torture. Never will war permit the captivity of innocent young children in the throes of hellish confinement.”
The petition was presented by Professor Daniel Kahneman, representing the Nobel laureates, and Alana Zeitchik and Liam Lindsay, relatives of abducted 3-year-old twins Emma and Julie and 5-year-old Amelia, representing the families of the kidnapped children. The Nobel Laureates who supported the petition included Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Laureate in Peace 2003; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nobel Laureate in Peace 2011; Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Laureate in Economics 2002; Aaron Ciechanover, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2004; Patrick Modiano, Nobel Laureate in Literature 2014; Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate in Peace 1996; Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Laureate in Literature 2018, among others.
In Washington, the US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken pointed out that there were still 10 additional Americans who remained unaccounted for in this conflict. “We know that some of them are being held hostage by Hamas, along with an estimated 200 other hostages held in Gaza. They include men, women, young boys, young girls, elderly people from many nations. Every single one of them should be released,” he said.
Significantly Blinken thanked the Government of Qatar “for their very important assistance” in the release of the two American hostages by Hamas. However, to a pointed question by a journalist to elaborate on what role, if any, was played by the political office of Hamas based in Doha in the release of the hostages, Blinken was evasive. “I really can’t go into any details about what we’re doing, how we’re doing it. And all I can say with regard to Qatar is in this instance, we very much appreciate their assistance. Beyond that, I really can’t – I really can’t say because, again, we want to focus on making sure that we’re getting those who remain hostage back home and with their loved ones. That’s the single most important thing,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US thanked Egypt, Israel, and the United Nations, for facilitating the safe passage of the humanitarian supplies through the Rafah border crossing. Washington claimed that the opening of this essential supply route was the result of days of exhaustive US diplomatic engagement in the region and an understanding President Biden reached with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his recent visit to Israel.
The US urged all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open to enable the continued movement of aid that is imperative to the welfare of the people of Gaza. However, it warned, “We have been clear: Hamas must not interfere with the provision of this life-saving assistance. Palestinian civilians are not responsible for Hamas’s horrific terrorism, and they should not be made to suffer for its depraved acts”.
President Biden stated that if Hamas “steals or diverts this assistance it will have demonstrated once again that it has no regard for the welfare of the Palestinian people and as a practical matter it will hinder the international community from being able to provide this aid. Civilian lives must be protected, and assistance must urgently reach those in need”.
– global bihari bureau
