US says time of essence for hostage deal, IDF fights in Gaza and the West Bank

Hezbollah confirmed the death of Abbas Anis Ayoub in Southern Lebanon on Thursday.

Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a vehicle in Tubas in the West Bank, according to multiple Palestinian including the Palestinian Red Crescent on Thursday morning.

The IDF soon after confirmed that it conducted three targeted strikes in the area of Tubas on Thursday morning. It said that during IDF counterterrorism activity in the area, soldiers killed armed terrorists that posed a threat.

Palestinian media reported that one of the people killed was Muhammad Zubeidi, son of the imprisoned Fatah leader Zakaria Zubeidi who was responsible for multiple terror attacks.

"Our government is cynically exploiting our collective trauma to violently advance its project of cementing Israel's control over the entire land," Yuli Novak, CEO of extreme left-wing Israeli activist group B'Tselem, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

In the 9717th UN Security Council meeting, coming 11 months into the war, representatives of multiple countries, including Israel and Palestine, spoke on the subject of "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question." This included Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, and a video message from Novak.  

According to Novak, the Israeli government "does not want to return the hostages in a deal, but to continue the war, indefinitely." She referred to the government as "criminal," "apartheid," and "cruel," saying that they were exploiting the events of October 7 to carry out their agenda.

"Since Israel was founded, its guiding logic has been to promote Jewish supremacy over the entire territory under its control," she told the Council.

Yuli Novak, CEO of B'Tselem, as seen in her speech to the UN Security Council, September 4th 2024 (credit: screenshot)

"It is waging war on the entire Palestinian people, committing war crimes almost daily."

Novak stated that Israel's current military actions in Gaza "goes beyond revenge; Israel is using the opportunity to promote an ideological agenda."

She also told the Council that by "driving Palestinians out of entire areas, Israel is laying the groundwork for long-term control of Gaza, that could lead to re-establishing Israeli settlements there."

Comments of settlements 

According to her, the government was also lending its full backing to "settler pogroms" in the West Bank.

"Israel has enjoyed impunity for decades," she said to the representatives. 

She called on the Security Council to "compel Israel and Hamas to cease all hostilities" and reach a ceasefire.

Referring to the ICJ's July ruling that Israel that Israel's actions may amount to apartheid, Novak said, "Every day the Council does not act on the court's call to end the occupation and apartheid, is another day the council is abandoning us, the people of this land, under a cruel and injust apartheid regime."

Ambassador Danon

Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon ended the over three-hour debate with a speech focussing on Israel's plight to return the hostages and calling on the Council to issue a condemnation of Hamas.

Danon began his statement by holding up pictures of each of the six hostages murdered by Hamas last week, and giving biographies of each one.

"These six beautiful innocent heroic souls were executed by Hamas after more than 330 days of being held captive. Hamas shot bullets in the back of each of their heads," he told the Council.

Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Alexander Lobanov and Almog Sarusi. (credit: Hostages and Missing Families Forum/Screenshot )

He spoke of the grief of their families as an "agony that no one can comprehend" and drew attention to the remaining 101 hostages who have been in captivity for almost a year.

Danon spoke of Hamas's violations of human rights, including physical and sexual abuse of hostages.

Drawing on testimonies of released hostages, Danon gave examples of such violations. These included Amit Soussana's testimony of experiencing sexual and physical abuse, Maya Regev's statement that "every woman held by Hamas has been sexually abused," and Agam Goldsteim-Almog's recent words about being a "slave bride" for Hamas."

"We hear many voices saying that we halt our efforts, lay down our weapons, and question why we continue to fight Hamas in Gaza," Danon added.

"Many of you have forgotten why we are in Gaza, but we have not."

Danon told the Council that the "disconnection [of many representatives] allows some of you to behave as if October 7 never happened."

"Today, I am here to remind you and the world that we will never forget them, we will never abandon them, [hostages] who are being tortured by monsters."

Hamas and only Hamas is to blame, says Danon

Danon said that if the Council members "truly cared for the Palestinian people, and truly wanted an end to this war which Hamas started, [they] would officially draft and pass a resolution designating Hamas a terrorist organization, and condemning Hamas for its hostage-taking."

"Israel is committed to bringing every one of these hostages home. It is our top priority. But make no mistake; the roadblock to their release is not Israel; it is Hamas and only Hamas. 

Danon claimed that for the Council members, "it is far easier to condemn a democratic government that to confront the reality of dealing with terrorists" given the terrorists do not sit at this table to defend their actions.

He concluded by calling on the Council to "direct its energy where it is most needed: issue a clear and unequivocal condemnation of the barbaric terrorist organization which continues to hold innocent lives."

"Now is the time for action."

It’s appalling that US President Joe Biden is blaming Israel for Hamas’s recent murder of six hostages, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin. But what makes Biden’s stance even more outrageous is the fact that his administration has never taken even the most minimal steps to bring about the release of any of the Americans who were kidnapped by Hamas.

What could Biden have done?

Military action

US anti-terrorist commandos have rescued hostages overseas on multiple occasions. One such operation, off the coast of Somalia in 2009, was made famous in the movie Captain Phillips (starring Tom Hanks). Similar rescue missions saved Americans held by other Somali terrorists in 2012, and by terrorists in Columbia in 2008.

There also have been US military operations to capture terrorists, such as the interception of the Egyptian airliner that was flying the Palestinian hijackers of the Achille Lauro to freedom, in 1985. (Unfortunately, the US allowed them to be tried in an Italian court, and they were paroled after serving just a part of their modest jail sentences.)

Economic pressure

The US has been pouring aid into Gaza—$674 million between October 7 and mid-July 2024. Much of that was stolen by Hamas and used to sustain its forces, including the kidnappers who are holding Americans captive. Biden could have announced that no aid would enter Gaza until the American citizens were released.

The US could also put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to fight Hamas. The Biden administration provides training and financing for the PA’s security forces. So the US could demand that the authority take meaningful action against the many Hamas terrorists based in its territory. It could demand the PA denounce Hamas for holding American hostages, and remove the names of Hamas terrorists from schools, streets, and parks in PA territory. Instead, Biden treats the authority with kid gloves and it continues to praise and defend the terrorist group.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin with parents Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin. (credit: Courtesy/The Media Line)

Speaking out

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris could have mentioned the American hostages, by name, at every opportunity. Keeping the spotlight on the American captives would have increased international pressure on those supporters of Hamas, such as the government of Qatar, who are anxious to maintain good relations with the United States. Instead, US officials rarely referred to the American hostages by name; they have focused most of their public comments on criticizing Israel and demanding that Jerusalem make more concessions.

Offering rewards

This is the most minimal step that the Biden administration could have taken, yet it still has not done so.

A US government website, www.RewardsForJustice.net, offers monetary rewards for information about terrorists who have harmed Americans around the world. There’s an 800 number for tipsters to call. Information about the rewards is printed on posters, leaflets, and even matchbooks that are distributed in places where potential informants might see them.

The website has a section called “Success Stories,” with details of cases in which killers of Americans were caught thanks to the rewards program – such as Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center (six dead, over a thousand wounded). “In February 1995” the website explains, “an informant, seeing a Rewards for Justice matchbook and motivated by the reward, went to the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, and provided information leading to Yousef’s whereabouts.” As a result, Yousef is serving multiple life sentences in an American prison.

There have been hundreds of Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks in which Americans were harmed. Since the 1960s, a total of 157 US citizens have been murdered in such attacks, and many others wounded. Yet the Biden administration offers rewards in only two of those cases. The website does not even use the term “Palestinian terrorism” – it prefers the euphemism “Violence in Opposition to the Middle East Peace Negotiations.”

Of course it’s a long shot that some Gaza resident, in pursuit of a US reward, would provide a tip about the American hostages in Gaza. But, so what if it’s a long shot? What does the Biden administration have to lose by offering such a reward? Why not take every possible step that could conceivably help?

WHICH LEADS to the glaring question: Why has President Biden not taken any of the minimal steps listed above, to rescue the American hostages in Gaza or capture their abductors?

The answer is connected to the fact that the US has never demanded that the Palestinian Authority hand over murderers of Americans for prosecution and has never sent US commandos to PA territory to capture them—even though some of them are hiding in plain sight, as active members of the PA security forces.

Why? Because if Washington apprehended Palestinian killers of Americans, it would have to bring them to trial in the United States. That would cause a crisis in relations with the Palestinian Authority because the PA regards Palestinian terrorists as heroes, not criminals. Tension between the PA and the US would then interfere with the administration’s obsessive goal of creating a Palestinian Arab state.

Of course, the Biden-Harris administration would like to see the American prisoners in Gaza set free. And of course it would like to see other Palestinian murderers and kidnappers of Americans punished. Who wouldn’t? But the administration will not take even the most minimal steps to achieve justice for American victims of Palestinian terrorism, or freedom for US captives of Palestinian terrorists, because doing so would conflict with the administration’s higher priority – setting up a Palestinian state in Israel’s backyard.

The writer is national chairman of Americans For A Safe Israel, a pro-Israel advocacy and education organization.

It is highly unlikely that the three-part Gaza hostage deal that is on the table would survive beyond Phase One – that is the reason that the spotlight is suddenly on the Philadelphi Corridor, the buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza.

That deal unveiled on May 31 is based on a creative fiction that allows for both sides to get some of their immediate goals, without dealing with the fact that Phases Two and Three of the deal might be unattainable.

It effectively kicks the unresolvable issues down the road to allow for the release of up to 32 of the remaining 101 hostages during a six-week period.

Effectively, the May 31 agreement creates a second temporary deal, one that follows the one in November which saw the release of 105 hostages.

The hope had been that hostages could be freed while negotiations continue on intractable issues, such as a permanent ceasefire and a complete IDF withdrawal from the enclave.

Hamas weapons cache, confiscated by the IDF, December 22, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

The United States has hoped to pull a rabbit out of a hat in those six weeks in November by finding a way to turn the temporary ceasefire into a permanent one, while still removing Hamas from Gaza. Washington has held fast to the view that diplomacy is the only way to remove the terrorist group from power, but has not outlined how it would do so.

US National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby on Wednesday said that “what we’re focused on right now is a Phase One, that is a six-week ceasefire.

“If you can get through Phase One… that is the goal, just let us get to Phase One right now, then you can start building toward Phase Two and if you can get both sides to Phase Two, then you are talking about a real potential end to the hostilities.”

To imagine that Israel and Hamas move to Phase Two is to imagine that Hamas agrees to leave Gaza or that Israel agrees to end the war while Hamas is still active.

It’s the equivalent of asking either Hamas or Israel to take steps that they consider to be suicidal, and neither are the suicidal type.

The issue of Philadelphi had not been part of the debate when the May 31 framework agreement was drawn up – because the IDF had only recently seized the Corridor which it had withdrawn from in 2005.

It agreed that the IDF would withdraw from populated areas in Gaza during Phase One, and could return to there if the deal fell apart between Phases One and Two.

The Philadelphi Corridor had initially not been considered to be part of that withdrawal because much of it is in isolated areas, so Israel might have imagined that the IDF could remain there for Phase One.

In sorting out the details of the how to carry out the plan, it became clear that the expectation was for Israel to leave Philadelphi, with Hamas insisting that this was the only way to make a deal.

In effect, what it did was place intractable issues, ones that are within the framework of a temporary deal with no clear way out, except for either of the two sides to cave.

Hamas lifeline

For Hamas, which smuggled weapons through tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor for years, it’s an existential demand, with the group’s survival literally depending on it.

It fears that if Israel stays during Phase One, and then the deal falls apart, the IDF’s presence will become a permanent reality, chocking it off.

Israel, for its part, also views the IDF presence as existential, because that would prevent such smuggling and keep Hamas from posing a significant threat to Israel in the future.

Security officials fear that Israel would lose the chance to return at least some of the hostages if it doesn’t cave in on Philadelphi. They have argued that little will be lost if Israel is away from the Corridor for the six weeks to takes to execute Phase One of the deal.

So Israel, they have stressed, can afford to show flexibility to save the lives of the hostages by temporarily withdrawing.

But, for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the issue is not whether Israel can safely withdraw for six weeks, but whether it would ever be able to return.

Netanyahu said as much in a press conference on Wednesday night: “We’re in now, [if] we leave we won’t [be able to] come back. You know it. Everybody here knows it.”

The debate over Philadelphi has come to symbolize the larger divide on the questions around hostage deals that often pit the issue of saving lives in the present at the expense of endangering others in the future.

But this specific debate has also exposed the flaws in a deal that is so fraught with discord, that at best, after three months, the only subject on the table is a six-week truce, with no clear road-map to the next Phase.

The talks to release the remaining 101 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza seem to be at a stalemate.

Although we are not privy to the details, Israel’s demand that it retain its presence in the Philadelphi corridor appears to be the main stumbling block.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a convincing argument for that need during his televised press conference Monday evening.

Utilizing a large map of Gaza and a pointer, Netanyahu explained the dangers of withdrawing from the strip of land bordering Egypt, citing it as a critical buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza under which Hamas smuggled weapons that allowed it to carry out the October 7 attack and launch rockets against Israel for years.

Unless Israel continues controlling the corridor, Hamas would not have any restraints from smuggling weapons in from Egypt and rearming, the prime minister asserted.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to an illustrative of the Gaza Strip during a press conference in Jerusalem. (credit: screenshot, YOUTUBE)

Insisting that Israel “will not give up on existential issues, “ he said that if Israel left Philadelphi, it would never be allowed to return. The prime minister explained that, in the end, this wasn’t purely a military issue but also a diplomatic one that had to take into account broader strategy.

“This isn’t a security issue; this is about a national geopolitical strategy,” he said.

Backing that concept, the cabinet on Thursday night approved the need to retain control of the corridor by a vote of 8-1, saying that standing firm on Philadelphi brings the possibility of a deal closer. According to sources, cabinet ministers said it was important to make it clear to Hamas that it would have to compromise on the Philadelphi Corridor, just as it compromised on its demand to end the war.

The only vote against the decision came from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a former IDF southern commander, who reportedly called the decision “an unnecessary constraint that we’ve placed on ourselves.

“The decision made Thursday was reached under the assumption that there is time, but if we want the hostages alive, there’s no time,” Gallant reportedly told the ministers. “The fact that we prioritize the Philadelphi Corridor at the cost of the lives of the hostages is a moral disgrace.”

On Tuesday, two former IDF chiefs of staff and now Netanyahu rivals, National Unity MKs Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, also made the case that retaining Philadelphi is not vital to Israel’s security and pales in comparison to the chance to bring some hostages home.

They join other security officials who have said that Israel can afford to withdraw temporarily from the Philadelphi Corridor to allow for the fulfillment of the first phase of the hostage deal.

The core of the issue

Gantz presented a map of the entire Middle East and argued that Iran was the real strategic threat. He also argued that the Philadelphi Corridor was a tactical issue for which the IDF had sufficient answers, including an underground barrier to block all tunnels. He also rebuffed Netanyahu’s claim that international pressure would prevent Israel from recapturing the corridor if need be.

Israel is now facing two valid approaches to dealing with the current situation in Gaza. The first sees Israel sticking to its guns and not giving an inch to Hamas in the hopes that, in a weakened state, it will eventually concede on its demand of a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The second approach is agreeing to a phased pullout that would see the release of some of the hostages.

The first approach would make the likelihood of any hostages being released soon very remote unless the IDF locates some of them, as they have done four times during the war. However, as we tragically learned this week, Hamas will likely execute any hostages it deems as being too close to rescue.

The second approach puts Israel in a potentially precarious security situation, one that could conceivably result in a future October 7-like attack or an offensive to recapture Philadelphi.

Given those difficult choices, we believe the country must go with the latter and attempt to save as many of the hostages’ lives now as possible. Despite the potential dangers involved, it’s the right thing to do.

This is what makes us different from everyone else. If there are Israelis or Jews in distress in Gaza or anywhere in the world, Israel is supposed to be there to help them and bring them to safety.

Security is indeed sacrosanct. So is saving lives.

Ninety percent of the Gaza deal is done, with the sticking points being the hostage-prisoner swap and the Philadelphi Corridor, a senior Biden administration official told reporters on Wednesday.

“Basically, 90% of this deal has been agreed on,” the official said, as he drew a picture of talks that were nearing completion - but still had significant challenges - as to ones that were stalled or falling apart.

In Israel, the debate on the hostage deal has focused on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that Israel would not agree to Hamas’s demand that the IDF withdraw its forces from the critical buffer zone known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

Hamas released a video showing the final statements of slain hostages Carmel Gat and Alexander Lobanov on their Telegram on Wednesday night. Gat and Lobanov were two of the six murdered by Hamas last week, shortly before their bodies were found by the IDF.

Similarly to the videos of Ori Danino and Eden Yerushalmi, released by Hamas over the last few days, the two hostages began by introducing themselves and mentioning the harsh conditions in captivity, the lack of food, and the bombing by the IDF. The six hostages survived nearly eleven months in captivity, before being executed by Hamas last week.

Lobanov, 32, who appeared to be reading the statement, said that he was "transferred ten times to save his life." 

He addressed "Netanyahu and the government of Israel: you failed and neglected us on October 7, and now you continue to fail in every attempt to release us alive."

Lobanov also made reference to the Shalit deal more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners were released, alluding to Hamas's demands for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners as part of a hostage deal.

Lobanov said that he "left behind a pregnant wife, a two-year-old son, and sick parents," and asked his family to stay strong.

His wife, Michal, gave birth to the second child while he was in captivity. The child is now five months old, was born. 

Carmel Gat, 29, stated that she "didn't know her family's fate since being in captivity," and asked the government to "please stop this negligence and stop this bombing and take us back to our homes."

Similarly to previous videos, both hostages called on Israeli citizens to protest and demonstrate in the streets. "Do not let anyone close the door to negotiations," Gat added.

Response from family

Carmel Gat's family approved the publication of the video, according to the Hostage Family Forum, calling it "a shocking psychological terror video."

Gil Dickman, Carmel's cousin, said, "It's overwhelming to hear her voice," and that it was heartbreaking to learn that Carmel didn't know that her father, brother, and niece were saved or that her sister-in-law Yarden was released in the November deals.

"It's painful to realize we could have saved her — she could have been here with us."

"In July, Netanyahu said "no" to a deal that would have saved Carmel from murder - and in so doing sentenced Carmel to death," Dickman added.

In a call with Lobanov's family on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized: "I want to tell you how sorry I am and ask for forgiveness for not being able to bring Sasha back alive," Netanyahu said, according to the PMO.

The IDF found the shaft to the tunnel in which the bodies of the hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Ori Danino, were found Saturday in a children's yard, the IDF reported on Wednesday. 

In a published video, a soldier explained that the IDF received clear intelligence about the location of the tunnel shaft, leading the IDF to operate in that precise location.

"As you can see, the tunnel was hidden in a child's yard, a place where a child should be safe, and not used as a human shield for Hamas," the soldier said in the video.

The IDF's 162nd Division and the Shin Bet located the shaft in a children's yard, in a civilian area filled with traps. 

The IDF stated, "This is another example of Hamas's cynical use of civilian space for terrorist activity."

מתחת לחצר ילדים ולצד בובות: תיעוד פיר המנהרה שבה אותרו גופות 6 החטופים שחולצו בסוף השבוע@Doron_Kadosh pic.twitter.com/OhR67iYoLr

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) September 4, 2024

Details of the operation

The IDF retrieved the bodies of the hostages from a tunnel under the city of Rafah in Gaza. They were likely slaughtered by Hamas shortly before the IDF got to them in Rafah.

The bodies were found only one kilometer from where Kaid Farhan al-Alkadi, age 52, from Rahat, was found last week. Since Alkadi was found, the IDF put out instructions to be extra careful in the area, but it is possible that Hamas killed the six, knowing that the military was close by and that the hostages might be taken by the IDF alive.

Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.

Hamas said on Thursday there was no need for new ceasefire proposals for Gaza and pressure should be put on Israel to agree to a US plan that the Islamist group had already accepted.

The United States was expected to present a new truce proposal aimed at breaking an impasse between Hamas and Israel.

In a statement, Hamas said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to thwart an agreement by insisting that Israel would not withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor in southern Gaza.

“We warn against falling into Netanyahu's trap and tricks, as he uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people,” the statement said.

Hamas said it accepted a July 2 proposal put forward by the U.S.

Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Alexander Lobanov and Almog Sarusi. (credit: Hostages and Missing Families Forum/Screenshot )

The July 2 proposal

The July 2 proposal would have seen the release of three of the six hostages who were found murdered on Saturday, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

According to an anonymous Israeli defense official, Netanyahu turned down the proposal because it did not adequately resolve the Philadelphi Corridor issue.