Hamas says hostages won’t return until Gaza war ends, Israel withdraws and Palestinian prisoners are released
Hamas will not release Israeli hostages until “aggression on our people in Gaza stops,” Israel completely withdraws from the enclave and Palestinian prisoners in Israel are released, senior Hamas official Khalil Al Hayya said in a televised address.
Al Hayya has served as chief negotiator for Hamas in talks for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages.
“We mourn the great leader the martyr Yahia Al Sinwar…who died as a hero martyr, holding his weapon, clashing and confronting the occupation army until the very end of his life.” Al Hayya said.
What Israel is saying: Despite hopes that Sinwar’s death might help bring Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza to an end, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the war is not over.
“Today evil has suffered a heavy blow, but the task before us is not yet complete,” Netanyahu said.
UN expert on freedom of expression says Israel seeking to stop documentation of crimes
Irene Khan, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, has presented a report to a special UN committee on global threats to freedom of expression arising from the conflict in Gaza.
She highlighted severe attacks on the media, including targeted killings and censorship, and the impunity surrounding these acts. She called for the establishment of an international investigative mechanism for killings of journalists.
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo asked her about this. Here are some highlights from her response:
“The severe attacks on media in the occupied Palestinian territory, in Gaza, but also in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the targeted killings of journalists, … the banning of Al Jazeera, the tightening of censorship within Israel and in the occupied territories seem to indicate a strategy of the Israeli authorities to silence critical journalism and obstruct documentation of possible international crimes,” she said.
When asked by Elizondo why, of all the documented cases of Israel targeting journalists, none has been investigated or prosecuted, Kahn replied:
“In most cases, impunity occurs because the national state is inactive and, therefore, the international mechanism has to be strengthened. There should be an international independent international mechanism to investigate when killings take place.”
