GAZA CITY: The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas said Thursday it remained committed to its fragile ceasefire with Israel, even after the first phase drew to a close at the weekend.
“Despite all the enemy’s attempts at evasion, lies and deception... we preferred and still prefer to adhere to the agreement in order to spare the blood of our people,” Abu Obaida, spokesman for the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a video statement.
The first phase of the fragile truce, which largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, drew to a close at the weekend after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted that the second phase go ahead as planned.
Israel has ramped up its rhetoric and halted the flow of goods and supplies into Gaza.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump warned the people of Gaza that they would be “DEAD” unless all the remaining hostages were released.
Hamas has said Trump’s comments will encourage Israel to ignore the terms of the ceasefire.
Abu Obaida warned against any escalation.
“We warn the families of the (hostages) that until today we have proof of life for those who remain alive among the prisoners,” the spokesman said.
“Any escalation of aggression against our people will likely lead to the death of some enemy prisoners, as has happened in many cases in the past.”
Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israeli towns and military bases, 58 remain in captivity, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, while Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,446 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the two sides.
Hamas armed wing says still committed to truce with Israel
https://arab.news/m6ta5
Hamas armed wing says still committed to truce with Israel
- Abu Obaida said Hamas 'still prefers to adhere to the agreement in order to spare the blood of our people'
- Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israeli towns and military bases, 58 remain in captivity
US lawmakers press Israel to probe strike on reporters in Lebanon
- “The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said
- Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured
WASHINGTON: Several Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for the Israeli and US governments to fully investigate a deadly 2023 attack by the Israeli military on journalists in southern Lebanon.
The October 13, 2023 airstrike killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six other reporters, including two from AFP — video journalist Dylan Collins and photographer Christina Assi, who lost her leg.
“We expect the Israeli government to conduct an investigation that meets the international standards and to hold accountable those people who did this,” Senator Peter Welch told a news conference, with Collins by his side.
The lawmaker from Collins’s home state of Vermont said he had been pushing for answers for two years, first from the administration of Democratic president Joe Biden and now from the Republican White House of Donald Trump.
The Israeli government has “stonewalled at every single turn,” Welch added.
“With the Israeli government, we have been extremely patient, and we have done everything we reasonably can to obtain answers and accountability,” he said.
“The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said, referring to the Israeli military, adding that it has told his office its investigation into the incident is closed.
Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured.
“But I’d also like them to put pressure on their greatest ally in the Middle East, the Israeli government, to bring the perpetrators to account,” he said, echoing the lawmakers who called the attack a “war crime.”
“We’re not letting it go,” Vermont congresswoman Becca Balint said. “It doesn’t matter how long they stonewall us.”
AFP conducted an independent investigation which concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area in Israel.
The findings were corroborated by other international probes, including investigations conducted by Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
Unlike Welch’s assertion Thursday that the Israeli probe was over, the IDF told AFP in October that “findings regarding the event have not yet been concluded.”
