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"There won’t be any hostages to release" if Israel maintains plan to eliminate Hamas, former hostage says
Former Israeli hostage Adina Moshe on Wednesday criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that "there won’t be any hostages to release" if his government continues its plan to eliminate Hamas.
Moshe, 72, who was kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz and held hostage in Gaza for seven weeks, spoke at a news conference for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum — directing her comments specifically to Netanyahu. “Mr. Netanyahu, I’m turning to you. It’s all in your hands. You are the one. You’re the one who can. And I’m really afraid that if you continue the way you do, the destruction of Hamas, there won’t be any hostages to release," Moshe said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters also delivered a message to Netanyahu and the Israeli War Cabinet in a release on Wednesday. "If the hostages are not returned home: the citizens of Israel should know they live in a state that is not committed to their security, that the mutual responsibility in it has died," the families forum said in the release. "They who do not protect their citizens will find that their citizens lose faith in them and their leadership."
Blinken says he told Israeli leaders that the toll on Palestinian civilians in Gaza "remains too high"
The toll of Israel’s military operations on Palestinian civilians “remains too high,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials on Wednesday. The top US diplomat’s statement that Israel still has not taken adequate action to protect civilians comes after four months of Blinken pressing the Israeli government "on all of (his) previous visits and pretty much every day on concrete ways to strengthen civilian protection, to get more assistance to those who need it."
"Nearly 2 million people have been displaced from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are experiencing acute hunger. Most have lost someone that they love. And day after day, more people are killed," Blinken said at a news conference in Tel Aviv.
Although Blinken acknowledged that Israel had taken some important actions, he outlined in his meetings Wednesday additional “key steps” that the government must take to mitigate the civilian suffering. Blinken noted that those steps should include opening the Erez crossing "so that assistance can flow to northern Gaza, where, as I said, hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to survive under dire conditions,” he said.
The US secretary of state also urged to "expedite the flow of humanitarian assistance from Jordan. And Israel must ensure that the delivery of life-saving assistance to Gaza is not blocked for any reason, by anyone,” the top US diplomat said, appearing to reference ongoing protests that have blocked the entrance of aid.
Well at least he told them... Doesn't make you any less complicit until you stop arming them and stop providing diplomatic cover.
Hamas counterproposal "creates space for agreement to be reached," Blinken says
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas' counterproposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal leaves room for a potential agreement. “While there are some clear nonstarters in Hamas’ response, we do think it creates space for agreement to be reached, and we will work at that relentlessly until we get there,” he said at a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Netanyahu's remarks and calling the proposal delusional is not a non starter?
His visit again sounds a lot like, look over here, while we prepare to storm Rafah. How many times has this 'deal' been close now...
Blinken says Israel must not “lose sight of our common humanity"
Who is he speaking for? His common humanity with Netanyahu?
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel must not “lose sight of our common humanity," as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s war in Gaza will continue. “The overwhelming majority of people in Gaza had nothing to do with the attacks of October 7th,” Blinken said at a news conference in Tel Aviv. “And the families in Gaza whose survival depends on deliveries of aid from Israel are just like our families.”
Blinken said Israelis were “dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7,” referring to the Hamas assault that left at least 1,200 people dead, and that “the hostages have been dehumanized every day since,” but that “that cannot be a license to dehumanize others.”
His comments come as US President Joe Biden's administration faces backlash and anger at home over its continued support of the offensive — a backlash that threatens to have political consequences for the president.
Wow, calling them 'others' is dehumanizing in itself, nvm you mean cannot be a license to commit genocide, or at least say starve 2.3 million people.
CNN getting a bit more critical putting this under his remarks
In other news, Biden blew up a car
US says its drone killed a Kataib Hezbollah commander in Iraq responsible for attacks on American forces
People inspect a vehicle after what security sources said was a deadly drone strike, in Baghdad, Iraq, on February 7
A US military strike killed a Kataib Hezbollah commander in Iraq on Wednesday night who was responsible for attacks on US forces in the region, according to US Central Command. The attack was carried out by a drone against a vehicle in Baghdad, according to US and Iraqi officials. There are no indications of collateral damage or civilian casualties, Central Command said in its statement. Iraqi police said there was at least one other person inside the vehicle who has not been identified.
“We will not hesitate to hold responsible all those who threaten our forces’ safety,” Central Command said.
Another euphemism, you mean you will not hesitate to assassinate all those who threaten our (unwelcome) forces.
The identity of the commander has not yet been released. Local police officials in Baghdad said on Wednesday that the strike hit an SUV in the Al-Mashtal, a predominantly Shia neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. The strike came as the US has been planning retaliatory attacks against Iran-backed militants who launched a drone at a US outpost in Jordan last month that killed 3 American soldiers. The US has blamed that attack on an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
A CNN team on the ground in Baghdad heard at least two loud explosions in quick succession around 9:30 p.m. local time. The two people who were inside the vehicle have not been identified because the bodies were completely charred from a fire that erupted from the strike, the police said. But a senior local security source and a senior source with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) told CNN that a senior leader with the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia was killed in the attack.
The US conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria last week targeting seven facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated militias in retaliation for the deadly drone attack in Jordan.
Wednesday's strike in Iraq is not the last of Biden's authorized actions, administration official says
The US military strike that Central Command said killed a Kataib Hezbollah commander in Iraq on Wednesday does not mark the end of a series of retaliatory actions that President Joe Biden authorized early last week.
