Detainees, Truce and Agreements *title altered at OP's request*

[stormy4319trevor]

Continuing broad discussion of the release of detainees, hostages and prisoners and the agreements around this.

@Parkingt111 I agree it's probably a misunderstanding although as I understand it it is normal for the Red Cross to see hostages and check on welfare.

@Stomacharmeleon I was hoping they would aswell
Let's see the pressure seems to be on so maybe something will come out of it
Also once again logistics
They will ofcourse prioritse the safety of their staff and if its feasible to do so during the intense bombardment and drone surveillance

MSM have finally picked up on the bombing of the Qatari Hammad complex in Gaza and the significance of the timing so it hasn't gone unnoticed

Eggers has made it into Gaza in one piece - brave man and said this a couple of hours ago

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has described the suffering in Gaza as “intolerable” while visiting the territory. Mirjana Spoljaric Egger said: “The level of human suffering is intolerable. It is unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza”

This was the only part reported that could in anyway be related to the hostages

''As a neutral actor, the ICRC stands ready to support further humanitarian agreements that reduce suffering and heartbreak.''

@Parkingt111 thought this might interest you re Red Cross.

Sorry I have just seen it's been posted.

Why is this guy claiming credit? Does he really think posting on social media is what got ICRC to do a VIP visit to Rafah crossing?

read that Israel is arresting those that they released last week as part of the exchange

The guy seems to be an Israeli activist/influencer type promoting the views of the Hostages & Missing Families who are understandably desperate atm

If it's the right person I found on google

The US are promoting their allies view that the breakdown of the hostage/ceasefire agreement was caused by Hamas

Qatar has already said that Israel was the party at fault

US says that the reason Hamas would not return the women & children is because the women had been subjected to rape/sexual assault and Hamas didn't want that known - seems a bit like shutting the gate after the horse got out by known rapists Hamas and the testimony of freed hostages of cruel treatment in captivity

US also seem to be supporting the Israeli view that the Bibas children are still alive

The hope for any new hostage negotiation/agreement appears slim to me atm - and the current bombardment really putting hostage lives at risk - hopefully I'll be proved wrong

I saw a video yesterday about not returning the women because of the sexual assaults

https://twitter.com/YaariCohen/status/1731742481417470278

@EasterIssland I'm not denying it's true - just think it's a pathetic reason for Hamas not to release these female hostages- Hamas propensity for sexual violence is well known

The arguments about which category the women fell into 'just young women at a festival' vs women soldiers/IDF reservists seems a more reasonable explanation for the impasse IMO - it had always been a sticking point in the negotiations from the outset

Yeah wasn’t saying whether you were wrong or not :) just wanted to post the video where it was said.

How many women were released last week? Thought some were and as you said the ones that belong to the army were kept by Hamas as they wanted a different exchange to the ones they did last week

@EasterIssland women were released last week who on the face of it would appear to have served in the IDF because of general conscription and continued to be reservists for some years afterwards - so potentially 'female soldier' category

However on a closer inspection the women who were released last week hadn't been called up [small no of people are exempt] or were outside the compulsory reservist period of several years

I have seen there is going to be a meeting today with the families of the hostages and Netanyahu. They are pushing for negotiations to commence again

@Parkingt111 really pleased to hear that

Just a couple of small hostage related items

There has been an almost total communication blackout in gaza since yesterday - impeding aid delivery and making it difficult for journalists in gaza. This won't help the Red Cross/Crescent either in their attempts to perform hostage welfare checks

IDF proposing to flood tunnels with seawater - Egypt did this a few years ago to smuggling tunnels at the rafah border - but are concerned that this would harm any hostages in the tunnels

Latest on negotiations

Qatar’s prime minister said on Tuesday that mediation talks on Gaza were still ongoing with an objective to end the war.

“Qatar continues to make efforts to restore the truce, release hostages, and exchange prisoners,” Reuters reports sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said at a press conference after a summit for the Gulf cooperation council.

@Efacsen that's atleast one thing positive as I hadn't heard anything further from Qatar on negotiations

There was some hope during the truce but since it ended I feel everything has gone much much worse
There desperately needs to be a way to end this

I hope they don't flood the tunnels - they're underneath whole cities, hospitals, schools etc. There's a very real risk all the infrastructure above would collapse. I never understood why people who are quite clearly anti-IDF were calling for Israel to flood tunnels a month ago instead of bombing 😳 (I'm not talking about you, by the way. I can't remember what you said about flooding of tunnels previously, or if you even anything at all!)

@Humdingerydoo i was actually wondering if that was a possibility but im suprised its not really been mentioned, that would be disastrous. The only opposition I have heard to flooding the tunnels on MSM was that there was a possibility that any hostages kept there that the IDF were not able to locate would be killed.

Unfortunately from the last I read the Israeli military confirmed it was an option they were considering

IDF have been seen with 5 huge pumps - they are discussing the possibilities with the US

When Israel went in to hospitals last month there were several people on here complaining about them not just flooding the tunnels instead. They were all very much not pro-Israel posters 🤪 I guess maybe partly because these posters don't believe that these tunnels actually exist, or are as extensive as the IDF says they are? So let's hope they're not flooded as it genuinely might be an absolute disaster, regardless of hostages. It will make the majority of Gaza uninhabitable for generations to come. Even buildings that are still standing won't be safe.

I think everything is an option for the army. They have to consider every single possibility out there. It doesn't mean that it's a realistic option, it just means it's been discussed and then they can move on to discussing the next option.

This was one other risk mentioned. If this does go through I rear it will be the end of all negotiations

The other risk, Professor Clarke said, was that by flooding the tunnels the Israeli military could end up polluting the aquifers that assist with Gaza's water supply.
"That would be a piece of environmental vandalism which the world would not thank Israel for," he added.

@Parkingt111 I really hope they don't do that and it's more of a case of ' we discussed it and went with the less catastrophic option'. Postering so to speak.