Maroon tigers Men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl sent a fiery message on social media Sunday in response to a video apparently showing Hamas terrorists handing over three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross.
The video showed the hostages moving from one vehicle to another among a large crowd of Hamas militants holding weapons and chanting “Allah Akbar.” The gunmen then stood on the vehicle.
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Bruce Pearl (Dale Zanine-Imagn Images)
Pearl didn’t seem pleased.
“This is what giving Palestinians autonomy looks like. Does it seem like they want peace?” He wrote on X. “They waged war, murdered and raped, built tunnels and hid among their people, launched rockets from living rooms and then screamed genocide. Now release the hostages, then live in peace or leave the city.”
Pearl isn’t one to shy away from hers support for Israel. He was one of the most outspoken sports figures on the issue.
Israel’s Cabinet early Saturday morning approved an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza that would include the release of dozens of hostages and pause the war with Hamas that began after the terror group’s attack on the Jewish state on October 7, 2023 .
Former hostage British-Israeli Emily Damari and her mother, Mandy, make a video call with Emily’s brother, Tom Damari, and other loved ones on the day Emily was released from captivity in a hostage-detainee deal between Hamas and Israel on January 19. , 2025.
Bittersweet joy as the first hostages return to Israel after 471 days of captivity
The deal would allow 33 hostages to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians jailed by Israel. The remaining hostages will be released in a second phase to be negotiated during the first phase.
Hamas agreed to release three female hostages on the first day of the deal, four on the seventh day and the remaining 26 over the next five weeks.
Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
A Hamas terrorist takes part in a military parade. (Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File)
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The 15-month war in Gaza began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and kidnapping around 250 others, prompting military retaliation from the Israeli forces. Nearly a hundred hostages are still trapped in Gaza.
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