Hamas response shows it doesn’t want deal

[Twiglets1]

US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff announces that Washington is calling back its negotiators from hostage talks in Doha and will pursue “alternative options” after the latest response from Hamas “clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.”

“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,” Witkoff says in his statement. “We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.”

“It is a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way. We are resolute in seeking an end to this conflict and a permanent peace in Gaza,” Witkoff adds.

Witkoff doesn’t elaborate on what “alternative options” the US might consider, and it’s unclear if the statement is an attempt to ratchet up pressure on the terror group to compromise.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/hamas-response-shows-it-doesnt-want-deal-witkoff-says-as-us-team-leaves-gaza-talks/

By this point they are mainly just predictable & boring 🤷🏼‍♀️

The proportionality (or rather lack thereof) in these hostage-prisoner exchanges is absolutely batshit.
As far as I know, even Russia agrees to release the same number of POW as Ukraine in their exchanges.

I know ... Israel has offered to release 125 life-term prisoners and 1,200 post-October 7 detainees to get their hostages back.

Yet you still get those people on MN suggesting that Israel don't care about the hostages.

Yet you still get those people on MN suggesting that Israel don't care about the hostages.

Absolutely! Always in that sneery, superior manner: “Surely no one still thinks it’s about the hostages?”
But why else would Israel be agreeing to these wildly disproportionate exchanges?

Israel was offered ALL the hostages back in immediate aftermath of October the 7th. The declined in preference of invading Gaza.
If this was about getting the hostages back they would have been home long ago

It's just another way to villainise Israel isn't it? Suggesting they don't even care about their own hostages when they very obviously do.

Israel would have have needed to have agreed to a complete military withdrawal from Gaza, don't forget that bit.

I Just find it rather disingenuous when any poster has things explained to them repeatedly on a thread. And when they don’t like the opposing position expressed on that thread they start another one hoping for support.
condoning the starvation of children and babies as collateral damage isn’t a great look.

It could be argued they should never have been there in the first place.

Seeing as this is very clearly aimed at me, no I don't condone the starvation of children and babies. As I have stated REPEATEDLY I didn't agree with Israel withholding humanitarian aid in the first place.

I don't need to have things "explained to me" I just disagree with some posters on who we consider more culpable for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

If you don't like the subject being discussed on this thread, feel free to step away.

But why pretend that "Israel was offered ALL the hostages back in immediate aftermath of October the 7th. The declined in preference of invading Gaza" as if that was all there was to it?

Was it a deliberate omission to leave out the bit about they would also have needed to agree to a complete military withdrawal from Gaza?

Not really. No country on earth would allow an attack like 7 October to happen with no reprisals.

No I won’t step away!
I won’t be quite about innocent people, CHILDREN being killed, starved and imprisoned by Israel. These are the actions of Israel. The responsibility of Israel.

October 7th was a hideous, dreadful act. But stop pretending that this happened in isolation. stop pretending Israel was not already imprisoning the entire population of Gaza. Stop pretending that Israel was not forcefully annexing parts of the West Bank. Stop pretending that Israel was not holding hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in prison without trial - including children. Stop pretending that right wing Israeli ministers are not openly taking about their plans of ethnically cleansing Gaza. These things happened and continue to happen and they all have consequences. You back a population of people into a corner for decades and they will come out swinging - and they did. None of it is acceptable. Both sides are as bad as each other. Hamas are not the only terrorists involved in this the Israeli government are equally evil.

That’s not what I said though is it @SharonEllis!

Your post was deleted. No more to be said.

Well they certainly werent there before 7 October.

lol

You might want to check that out. Israel have been controlling Gaza for decades. In addition to annexing parts of the West Bank.

Something funny?

They shouldn’t have been in Gaza after the October 7th attack?
Or do you mean Israel shouldn’t be there at all?

We're talking about Gaza not the West Bank. Completely different scenarios. Israel withdrew from Gaza. Hamas chose to attack Israel on 7 October and Israel, course, retaliated. There is no way you can twist that first phase to absolve Hamas and blame Israel.

I womder how the US are planning to bring stability to the people of Gaza?

Calm down @businessflop25 you sound quite agitated.

I'm not telling you to step away from the thread, more suggesting you may want to if the subject matter offends you that much.

Sorry if threads that are critical of Hamas upset you but there are many others criticising Israel that you could choose from instead.

We've had terrorist attacks in this country and managed to retaliate without causing genocide and obstructing aid.

Yes... not the reassuring phrase it would seem under other circumstances.