CAIRO: Hamas deployed fighters in Gaza on Monday as a release of hostages seized in the October 7 attacks was under way, Reuters footage showed, in an apparent show of strength by the militant group which President Donald Trump says must disarm.
Reuters footage showed dozens of Hamas fighters lined up at a hospital in southern Gaza, and an armed man wearing the insignia of the Hamas armed wing, the Qassam Brigades. His shoulder patch identified him as a member of the elite “Shadow Unit,” which Hamas sources say is tasked with guarding hostages.
Israel has pummelled Hamas during its two-year-long Gaza offensive, killing thousands of its fighters and many of its leaders in the onslaught that turned much of the Palestinian territory into a wasteland.
Israel’s military said it had received the first seven of 20 surviving hostages after their transfer out of Gaza by the Red Cross.
The remaining 13 confirmed living hostages, along with the bodies of 26 dead hostages and another two whose fate is unknown, are also expected to be released on Monday, along with nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners.
The release of the remaining hostages in Gaza along with the Palestinian prisoners is the first stage of Trump’s plan for ending the Gaza war. A ceasefire has been in place since Friday.
The next phase of negotiations must address demands for Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, the territory it has controlled since expelling President Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority in 2007.
Hamas deploys fighters as hostages released, in show of strength
https://arab.news/wr2za
Hamas deploys fighters as hostages released, in show of strength
- Dozens of Hamas fighters line up at a hospital in southern Gaza
Hamas says UN Gaza resolution does not meet Palestinians’ rights
- The UN Security Council voted earlier Monday in favor of a US-drafted resolution bolstering President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan that includes the deployment of an international force and a path to a future Palestinian state
- The statement decried the establishment of an international force whose “mission includes the disarmament” of Palestinian groups in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories : Gaza’s Hamas rulers said they rejected Monday’s UN resolution which calls for an international force to be deployed in the territory, saying it fails to respect the “demands and rights” of the Palestinians.
“This resolution does not meet the level of our Palestinian people’s political and humanitarian demands and rights,” the Islamist militant group said in a statement.
The statement also decried the establishment of an international force whose “mission includes the disarmament” of Palestinian groups in Gaza.
“The resolution imposes an international trusteeship on the Gaza Strip, which our people, its forces, and its constituent groups reject,” the statement continued.
The UN Security Council voted earlier Monday in favor of a US-drafted resolution bolstering President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan that includes the deployment of an international force and a path to a future Palestinian state.
There were 13 votes in favor of the text, which Washington heralded after the vote as “historic and constructive,” with only Russia and China abstaining — but no vetoes.
