Ceasefire has now been delayed:
In a video update, delivered as the ceasefire was supposed to begin, Rear Admiral Hagari claimed Hamas had not kept up its end of the agreement by failing to provide the names of three hostages it plans to release today.
He said that as long as Hamas was not meeting the demands, Israel would continue to attack.
Earlier in the day, Hamas released a statement saying it was committed to the ceasefire, but that it hadn’t been able to release the names of the hostages due to “technical field reasons”.
Again, Israel coming up with excuse after excuse whilst Gaza keeps getting bombarded.
Also that Ben-Gvir and Smotritch is dangerous. Both those fellas needs to go or be sacked, even if Netanyahu is too gutless to do that.
Update from the ABC blog:
Hamas has named three Israeli hostages for release later this afternoon, once a ceasefire takes hold.
Israel had criticised Hamas for not providing the details, and announced it would delay the ceasefire coming into force as a result.
It was due to begin at 8.30am local time, which was 5.30pm Australian eastern daylight time.
The three hostages are 24-year-old Romi Gonen, 28-year-old British Israeli Emily Damari, and 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher
The initial list of 33 hostages slated for release had been drafted by Israel, but Hamas is meant to alert authorities prior to returning hostages in smaller groups of three or four at a time.
There is no word on what this announcement from Hamas means for the start of the ceasefire.
The only ones to blame for what has happened to Gaza are Hamas, the PLO and their decades-long campaign of terror and murder.
Just as the Japanese are the only ones responsible for the Allied bombing of Japan culminating in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Japanese were also the first ones to drop bomb on Asian cities.
Shifting this over here as this tangent is more relevant to Israeli domestic politics rather than US Politics.
It’s quite understandable to me that all Israeli parties of any significant size (and the majority of Israelis) will support Zionism in some form or another. It’s only natural that everyone wants what they feel is best for their own survival as individuals and as a collective (given the precarious nature of the Jewish state), and not much different to the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians would support a Palestinian state of some sort (as naturally what is best for them).
The key difference between the left and centre Israeli parties however and those on the right of Israeli politics is that the left/centre parties recognise the need for a peaceful co-existence with the Palestinian people and their representatives- within 1967 borders (which, while not perfect, are generally considered a reasonable compromise)- i.e. Liberal Zionism.
This is very different to the expansionist form of Zionism currently being pursued by Netanyahu- that is righfully worthy of condemnation.
I don’t think it’s particularly fair to try and lump in all Israeli politicians and advocates with Netanyahu and his expansionism- to me that’s really not far removed from trying to lump in all Palestinian groups and advocates with Hamas (which is rightfully considered unfair).
If peace is to have any chance of success- the world in my view needs to get behind the moderates and pragmatists on both sides- those that are willing to compromise and work together to find a lasting solution that ends the bloodshed and results in a peaceful, stable co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians alike. On the Israeli side, the best bet of that is Yesh Atid or the Democrats (given their willingness to negotiate on a two-state solution as well as having popular support within Israel)- and on the Palestinian side the best bet is arguably Fatah.
Winner-takes-all ruthless extremism as expressed by the Netanyahu government (especially if he endorses this Trump “plan”) on one side and Hamas on the other side is not the solution and will only cause further untold misery for the region.
British Health Minister Andrew Gwynne has been sacked after The Mail on Sunday revealed a series of insulting and abusive WhatsApp messages, one of which said that he hoped a 72-year-old woman would soon be dead after she wrote to her local councillor about bin collections.
Gwynne is the third MP to leave the Labour government since last summer’s election, coming after the departures of Tulip Siddiq as Treasury minister in January and Louise Haigh as transport secretary last November.