Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has taken yet another trip to the Middle East
to basically discuss the ongoing Israel Gaza war with Israel, of course,
but also with Arab countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Now, in an exclusive report by Axios, they're claiming that Israel is planning
to propose a hostage related negotiation
that actually involves holding Gazans
hostage, which I am not in favor of.
But there is potentially a light at the end of the tunnel here.
So I want to kind of focus on the potential positives as well.
First, let's talk about the proposal.
Now, before we get to the details of what Israel is planning to negotiate,
it is important to understand what this war has meant for the vast majority
of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
It's estimated that 1.9 million Palestinians, or about 85% of
the population, has in fact been displaced due to Israel's military campaign.
Most of these individuals have been forced to move and evacuate
not once, not twice, but multiple times.
And since destruction from Israel's aerial bombardment is widespread,
most Palestinians from northern Gaza will not have homes to come back to.
And that's really important to keep in mind as I give you details
about what the Israeli government is planning to propose to Anthony Blinken,
and I'm unsure of what the response will be from the United States government.
But here's what we do know.
Between 70 and 80% of buildings in northern Gaza have been destroyed
in the war, according to an analysis of satellite data conducted by Harmen van
den Hoek of Oregon State University and Corey Scher of Cuny Graduate Center.
Now, much of the northern much of northern Gaza's water, sanitation and electricity
infrastructure has also been destroyed.
And so there is obviously going to be
and they're going to need, resources
to rebuild Gaza, especially northern Gaza.
And there have been some reports indicating that various figures
within Israel's government are trying to appeal to Arab nations in order to
bankroll the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip.
So far from what I've read in the reports, the UAE has basically not literally,
but effectively given the middle finger to that idea, arguing that it is not
incumbent upon other nations to pay for the destruction in the Gaza Strip, that
Israel should be responsible for that.
The United States, in my opinion, is very likely going to use some of its
resources if it does get to a point where, Palestinians are allowed to remain
in the Gaza Strip, as we know, there are also reports indicating
that some portion of the government, especially the more far right elements
of the government in Israel, want to expel Palestinians entirely from the Gaza Strip.
But clearly, based on these reports, they are considering not doing so.
But there there is a catch. Okay.
So what is the catch?
Well, Israeli officials are also saying we are not going to allow Palestinians
to go back to their homes in northern Gaza if there is no progress
with the release of hostages.
So understand what that Israeli official who spoke to Axios on the condition
of anonymity is saying there they're essentially saying if Hamas, a terrorist
organization, a terrorist group, fails to release hostages, if there's
no positive movement in that direction, then we will not allow Palestinians
to go back to northern Gaza.
Now when they say we won't let them go back to their homes in northern Gaza,
that's that makes no sense.
There really are no homes left in northern Gaza.
They have effectively razed it.
But the idea here is, okay, if we were to rebuild Gaza and allow
Palestinian Palestinians back to the northern region of Gaza, that would only
happen if Hamas released the hostages.
Now, let me be clear.
Hamas absolutely should release the hostages.
There's they're committing horrible war crimes by, first of all,
kidnaping these innocent people and holding them as hostages.
So I absolutely agree that they should release the hostages.
There is a catch, though.
And the catch is, you know, we're kind of unsure in about what the
current situation is with the hostages.
We don't know if they're still alive.
We don't know how many of them are still alive.
And we also don't know if they're currently being held captive by Hamas.
And I say that because after Hamas was able to, you know, breach barriers
and enter Israel, to commit the atrocities they committed on October 7th.
There were also other groups, other gangs, who?
Came in to Israel, and they also kidnaped, Israelis and took them to the Gaza Strip.
And so some of the missing hostages or some of the hostages that,
remain in the Gaza Strip, we don't know what happened to them.
I know there's one young woman who was kidnaped at the music festival, and, ABC
news did like this deep dive investigation to try to figure out where she was.
And they ultimately concluded that it's likely that Hamas, does not know where she
is and wouldn't be able to return her because of the other groups who again,
went into Israel and kidnaped civilians and forced them into the Gaza Strip.
So there's that component of it.
We don't really know where these hostages are, who these hostages are with,
or if these hostages are still alive.
And remember, when we talk about the aerial bombardments that are carried out
by the IDF, when we talk about the lack of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip,
that doesn't only impact Palestinians.
And obviously that's horrible enough, and that's something that we have condemned.
But it also affects the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip.
So when I bring up the questions in regard to what their fate is,
whether they're still alive, that's what I'm kind of getting at here.
The second half of it is it's wrong to collectively punish people
and hold them hostage.
Unless Hamas release the hostages, the Israeli hostages
that the Israeli government is asking for.
I don't agree with that proposal.
I don't think that's the way you engage in negotiations.
These are innocent Palestinians who have lost literally everything,
and their lives weren't great to begin with because of the restrictions placed
on the Gaza Strip even prior to the war.
And so, again, I disagree with this.
A second Israeli official says that Israeli's negotiators believe
that the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza is significant leverage,
that Israel does not want to give up as it tries to secure a new hostage deal.
So this second, official told Axios, quote, there are Israeli and American
hostages that are still held in Gaza.
We think we will know within a few weeks whether a new deal to release them is
possible or not, the second official said.
So where is the potential light at the end of the tunnel?
Where is the positivity that we can focus on in this story?
Because it's still this war continues to be awful.
Well, this tells me that they are engaging in negotiations.
There was a period of time, especially after the, you know,
hostage exchange kind of fell apart where they were not negotiating,
they were not talking to one another.
There was really no effort in pursuing diplomacy
or diplomatic means of ending this war.
And to me, this indicates that there could be some of that going on.
And that is good news.
Israeli officials are expected to tell Anthony Blinken they are ready to start
the planning process with the United States and the UN for a future
return of Palestinians to their homes.
Remember, a lot of them have lost their homes, so they would have to rebuild
those homes if possible, or to shelters established by international
organizations, the official said.
So again, there are major questions looming in regard to who foots the bill
for rebuilding Gaza.
But what I choose to focus on here and, you know, take it for what it is,
is the fact that there is a conversation currently currently taking place about the
return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, and at least there is a discussion
about rebuilding Gaza right now.
It is a complete and utter mess there.
It has been made, you know, uninhabitable, unlivable.
And so I do think that Israel is responsible
for footing the majority of the bill here.
But I have no doubt that the United States will very likely, get pressured into
using some of its resources in doing so.
Now, if we are to believe what Israel is saying, things are likely to calm down.
In regard to the intensity of this war, I have noticed that Israel has
conducted some more targeted strikes, and if that was what they were doing
from the beginning, there wouldn't be much to criticize them for
in regard to this latest round of warfare.
Obviously, there's a lot of other things that you can be critical of
and we have been critical of.
But the IDF spokesperson, Daniel Hagar, said on Monday that the Israeli military
is in the process of transitioning from high intensity operations and most of
the Gaza Strip to low intensity operations that are more targeted.
As we had shared with you last week, Israel had also reported to the press
the government had that they are planning to bring troops
back to Israel out of the Gaza Strip.
And a lot of that has to do with the.
Economic ramifications of having so many IDF soldiers at war in Gaza.
I think a lot of it also might have to do with the fact that there is just growing
international condemnation over Israel's handling of this war.
As we've also reported, South Africa is making allegations
and charges of genocide against Israel.
And I really do feel that that has shaken Israel up a little bit.
So that will be adjudicated in the international Court of Justice.
We'll see how that plays out.
But if this does in fact slow down a little bit, if we see Israel transition
from a high intensity to low intensity operations, that means that there will
be fewer ground forces inside the enclave and fewer airstrikes, especially
in Gaza City and in the northern Strip.
But there is a caveat here that's worth knowing about.
High intensity fighting is expected to continue in the southern city
of Khan Younis, where the IDF is still searching for Hamas leaders who Israel
believes are hiding in the tunnels.
So again, if they're carrying out targeted strikes and they're genuinely targeted
and they're avoiding this nonsense where they literally drop 2,000 pound
bombs on residential buildings or refugee camps or hospitals and then argue,
oh, well, there was nothing we could do.
We had to do this.
The Hamas was using innocent civilians as human shields.
If they stopped doing all of that and are far more careful in their
military operations, then I'm totally fine with them going after Hamas.
What Hamas carried out on October 7th was absolutely awful.
Those were atrocities. That was a terror attack.
And innocent people suffered as a result of that.
No innocent civilian deserves what happened on October 7th.
But the same can be said of Palestinian civilians as well.
They do not deserve what they have been experiencing over the last three months.
So I chose to share this story with you because there seems to be
some potential positive movement.
Obviously, there's still a lot going on that I personally disagree with,
especially when it comes to holding Palestinians hostage until Israel sees
the release of the Israeli hostages.
But again, a lot of questions about where those hostages are,
whether or not they're still alive.
And hopefully we hear more word on that soon and hopefully these more
diplomatic negotiations continue.
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