Top Hamas official says hostage talks off until war ends
Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’ politburo, says in an interview with Al Jazeera that negotiations for further release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners have halted, and that there will be no further exchanges until the war ends.
Al-Arouri claims that Hamas has released all the women and children kidnapped on October 7 as well as all the foreign prisoners, and that the remaining hostages in its hands are all soldiers or former soldiers.
Israel says Hamas continues to hold 15 women and two small children who were to be released under a truce deal, which ended Friday.
Remaining hostages include soldiers as well as older men, some of whom still serve in the IDF reserves, Al-Arouri claims.
He says that the terror group has set different terms for their release, and claims that Israel has rejected them.
The Mossad spy agency said earlier that a negotiating team that had been in Qatar has been ordered home with talks on extending a truce reaching a “dead end.”
Netanyahu: Lebanon will be destroyed if Hezbollah launches war
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterates numerous warnings he made against Hezbollah before the recent ceasefire with Hamas, telling the Lebanese terror militia that Lebanon will be destroyed if it opens up a major war against Israel.
“We are acting in the north all the time against all efforts by Hezbollah to operate against us. We are eliminating terror cells, pushing them away from the border, destroying munitions. We will continue with strong deterrence in the north, and total victory in the south,” says Netanyahu.
“We will restore security to the north and the south. If Hezbollah makes a mistake and enters into a broad war it will have destroyed Lebanon with its own hands,” he warns.
Netanyahu: Israel will not halt Gaza war until all goals achieved
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the only way to achieve Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas is through the continuation of the IDF’s ground invasion of Gaza
Netanyahu, speaking at a press conference, says the war will continue until this goal is achieved, adding that he will also continue to work toward freeing the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza
“We will do everything to bring them home, to complete that mission but also to destroy Hamas, and to ensure that Hamas will never be a threat to us anymore and that there will be no group threatening Israel from Gaza,” says the prime minister during a press conference.
“I am saying clearly and plainly: We will continue with war until we achieve all our goals… There is no way to achieve these goals apart from winning, and no way to win apart from through the ground invasion.”
US officials have reportedly warned Netanyahu that Israel will not necessarily have maneuverability and support should the fighting continue for months.
He hails the deal that enabled the return of over 100 hostages in the past week — “we brought them from darkness into light,” he says. And he laments those killed and those who have not yet been brought home.
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