JERUSALEM – Scenes of armed and uniformed Hamas terrorists were seen in Gaza on Sunday as the first three Israeli female hostages were released when the ceasefire came into effect.
Israeli news agency TPS-IL reported that groups of armed men, suspected terrorists in the central Gaza area of Deir al-Balah, celebrated after the ceasefire and quoted them as chanting: “It is constantly by God’s permission the last Zionist soldier in our holy land,” as cars honked and music blared.
According to some concerned Israeli military experts, the deal could allow Hamas to reorganize its terrorists in Gaza and repopulate the northern part of the Gaza Strip, which borders Israel.
Bittersweet joy as the first hostages return to Israel after 471 days of captivity
Hamas terrorists emerge in a show of force, escorting Red Cross vehicles carrying three Israeli hostages to be released as part of the ceasefire. (TPS-IL)
“Despite significant military achievements against many of the Iranian terror organizations surrounding it, Israel has been forced to agree to a very bad deal that leaves Hamas in power. As the leaders of Hamas have repeatedly stated, even after the declaration of the ceasefire, Hamas intends to continue its path of Jihad against Israel until Israel is completely eliminated,” former spokesperson of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told , Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, to Fox News Digital.
He continued: “Israel is being held at gunpoint by the terrorist organization Hamas and has agreed to release nearly 2,000 convicted Palestinian terrorists, withdraw from the Gaza Strip and agree to a temporary ceasefire to repatriate 33 Israeli hostages. ”
After the initial announcement of the deal last week, Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, reportedly boasted that his movement plans to carry out a second massacre of Israelis on October 7, according to a Hamas report. Media Research Institute for the Middle East (MEMRI) translation of his comments.
He reportedly boasted of the first massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis, including more than 40 Americans, on October 7, 2023, and announced plans to launch new mass killings. “October 7 will remain a source of pride for our people and our resistance, and will be passed on from generation to generation,” al-Hayya stated.
Hamas terrorists emerge from the shadows as they surround Red Cross vehicles. (TPS-IL)
He said the jihadist organization will expel Israel from Palestine and Jerusalem and that this will happen soon. He added, “We will never forget and never forgive,” and promised that Israel’s crimes will be punished, “even if it takes time.”
Conricus, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that only “as a result of the overwhelming international pressure exerted on Israel over the past fifteen months, which has prevented Israel from exerting the necessary amount of influence and pressure on Hamas in Gaza, extortion deal is unfortunately probably the best way to rescue Israeli hostages.”
Retired IDF brigade. Gene. Amir Avivi (Res) told Fox News Digital that the government is prioritizing the return of the hostages at this stage. It’s clearly urgent. Their situation is very bad.” He added: “The government plans to resume fighting after the first phase unless there is another ceasefire to get all the hostages. But the intention is not to give up on destroying Hamas and creating a new reality in Gaza.”
Hamas terrorists wave at Gazans during the release of three Israeli hostages on Sunday. (TPS-IL)
Caroline Glick, a conservative Israeli commentator who is well aware of the Jewish state’s campaign to defeat Hamas, said: on her podcast, “What we have now is a situation where we are permanently forced into this position where we are not allowed to win, because that is what the ceasefire effectively does to Israel.”
The hostage ceasefire agreement comes at a time when Israel has largely downgraded Hamas’ military power. Hamas is in a weak state. Hezbollah, Hamas’s main ally in the region, to end a ceasefire agreement with Israel and removed one of the Iranian-backed fronts against the Jewish state.
The Iranian regime has not launched any new attacks against Israel since Jerusalem repelled an airstrike in October.
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Suspected terrorists in Gaza are coming out of hiding as a hostage ceasefire begins in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah area. (Majdi Fathi/TPS-IL)
The deal contains deep concessions for Israel. The Jewish state will release up to 2,000 Palestinian terrorists, including more than a hundred serving life sentences.
The expectation is based on previous releases of Palestinian terrorists for Israeli hostages involved in the return of the Palestinian killers to fight Israel.
TPS-IL reported Monday that an estimated 20,000 terrorists from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups have been killed in the war. It was also reported on Sunday that Izz al-Din Haddad, commander of Hamas’s Northern Brigade, who oversaw the transfer of three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross on Sunday, has been named Hamas leader to rebuild the terror organization.
