Destruction in Gaza Represents Hamas 'Victory'

 

"According to information provided by the Red Cross, seven hostages, including an Israeli male and female hostage and five foreign nationals, were handed over to it and are making their way to the IDF and [Israel Security Agency] forces in the Gaza Strip."

"[The seven returnees have] now crossed the border into Israeli territory with IDF and ISA forces."

Israeli military report  Jan30.25

Arbel Yehoud, 29, held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, surrounded by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists as she is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

Chaos reigned with the release yesterday of three more Israeli hostages and five Thai farm workers who were also taken hostage during the invasion on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel of thousands of Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas. The Thursday handover saw masked Hamas gunmen in uncomfortably close proximity to the hostages as they prepared to hand them over to the International Committee of he Red Cross for transfer to the Israel Defense Forces. Surrounding the terrorists were thousands of raucous, threatening Palestinian men shouting abuse at Arbel Yehound as she was on the cusp of freedom.

Seven of the eight hostages were released symbolically in front of the destroyed home of Gaza's Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, killed in an IDF bombing raid months ago. This gesture was named by the Hamas leadership as a "message of determination", no doubt linked to their having declared 'victory' and a resumption of their control and governance of Gaza with the declaration of the temporary ceasefire which they demand be made permanent on the condition of releasing the remaining 90-some-odd hostages still in their hands, a third of whom are no longer living.

 

Female Israeli soldier Agam Berger surrounded by Hamas terrorists as she is released as part of an agreement between Israel and Hamas during a temporary ceasefire.  Reuters

 

Agam Berger, age 20, the first hostage to be released, had been paraded before a crowd in the largely destroyed urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. A demonstration of Hamas power; a young Israeli soldier on lookout duty at the Gaza border with Israel. The other seven were released in Khan Younis where hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in a convoy delivered the hostages, amongst thousands of Palestinians who had assembled to witness the exchange.

Palestinian civilians rushed to crowd around the hostages, hemming them within a flood of threatening menace. Hostage Arbel Yehoud appeared stunned as she was hustled through the shouting mob by masked terrorists. Gadi Moses, 80-year-old Israeli, and Thai farm labourers were also guided through the throngs of Palestinians shouting abuse, to the waiting ICRC vehicles. 

Soon afterward Israel released the agreed-upon 110 Palestinian prisoners whose freedom included 30 serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis; seven of whom were permitted return to the West Bank, the rest transferred to Egypt prior to further deportation. Former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Zakaria Zabeidi, flashed a victory sign. He had been convicted of terror offences involved in the deaths of 6 Israelis.

Dozens of hostages remain in the hands of the Palestinian terrorists, many held by Palestinian civilians in concert with Hamas. The ceasefire arranged for the distinct purpose of freeing Israelis and others from Hamas captivity occasioned an opportunity for Hamas to declare a great victory over Israel. Returning Gazans hoping to resume their normal lives in their residences may feel when they finally view the wreckage of all that was once familiar to them, as not much of a victory and perhaps lead them to consider Hamas's victory their personal disaster.

 

Reacting to hostage release agreement ... Reuters