All of Israel has been waiting on pins and needles for the expected retaliation from Iran over the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas. Hamas itself is barely hanging on and not able to do much for itself in regards to hitting Israel back, but Iran has always been the real conspirator behind the terrorist axis surrounding Israel.
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The one thing that Hamas still has, however, is also the most precious thing to Israel- their innocent hostages. While Israel waited for bombing and other attacks, Hamas decided to hit them another way, the way that hurt most.
On Tish’a B’Av, the day that Israel calls the “saddest day on the Jewish calendar” because it commemorates the days when the temples were destroyed and Jews sent into exile, Hamas has announced that guards of the hostages have killed one man and seriously wounded two women.
They made the announcement as if in shock and promising they would “investigate.” The story they are telling is that the guards were so overtaken with grief and rage from Israel’s “massacre” that they took justice into their own hands.
Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, said Monday that guards in two separate incidents shot and killed a male Israeli hostage and seriously injured two female hostages.
The spokesman did not identify the victims or specify when or where the incidents took place, only claiming that the terror group has formed a committee to investigate.
These “unrelated incidents” were, in fact, not coincidental, as there had already been talk of retaliation on the holiday of mourning. With Israel and the U.S. mobilizing to deflect an outright attack from Iran (which could still very well happen any moment now), perhaps the terrorists decided to go a different route that wouldn’t necessarily cause escalated war. Killing some of the hostages is a way to hurt us all and yet not change the war much in the practical sense. This is the reality of dealing with terrorists who are holding innocent people hostage; the leverage is horribly one-sided.
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Hamas refused to participate in the newest round of negotiations that were to begin on August 15th. This could be because they have nothing left and don’t want to give up their bargaining chips. Or, it could be that their newly elected leader, Yahya Sinwar, is trying to play hardball and actually thinks he can still win.
The IDF cannot confirm or deny Hamas’ claims at this moment.
“At this stage, there is no intelligence document to confirm or refute Hamas’ allegations,” the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement.
“We are continuing to check and investigate the credibility of the statement, and will update as soon as possible with any information we have,” the IDF added.
Although in the past, Hamas has always blamed Israel for any hostage deaths, most (but not all) of their claims have been true when they say a hostage is dead. There is one instance where a woman was reported dead and then was later released in a hostage deal. It is also questionable if the Bibas family is dead or just being held as a premium bargaining chip. But in this case, it wouldn’t be unimaginable for Hamas to be telling the truth. Now, we must wonder who was killed. Which women were injured? How were they injured?
Hamas’ days are numbered, but that also makes the hostages more vulnerable now than ever. We continue to hope and pray for a speedy resolution to this conflict and the return of the 111 hostages, including 5 Americans, that are still in captivity.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this article referred to the holiday as Rosh Chodesh. The holiday in question is Tish’a B’Av.