re: There are clear signs of ethnic cleansing by Israel in Gaza, Doctors Without Borders says.

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fundamental issue in the talks: Hamas is looking for a hostage deal that permanently ends the war triggered by its October 7 onslaught, while Israel is only willing to agree to a temporary ceasefire, as it aims to finish dismantling the terror group

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Within this context, the Israeli government has refrained from making serious moves to release the 120+ Israeli hostages that remain in Gaza.1 To date, seven hostages out of some 250 taken on October 7 have been released by military operations.2 The military operation that released two of them in February also killed 74 Gazans (or about 100), mostly civilians.3 Another military operation that freed four hostages in June also killed 274 Gazans, many of which were women and children, and wounded hundreds.4 Three other Israeli hostages were killed by IDF forces within Gaza despite waving white flags and calling for help.5 Another was killed during an attempted rescue operation.6 Three others were supposedly killed by gas that the IDF flooded the tunnels with.7 In late February an Israeli report found that at least 10 hostages were killed by the IDF’s actions, including a case where the IDF bombed a building that it suspected had a Israeli hostage.8 In late March a senior journalist specializing in military intelligence shared an estimate that only 60-70 of the hostages are still alive.9 US intelligence assessments seem to suggest a similar number.10 The number appears to have decreased as of late May.11 On the other hand, a temporary ceasefire has resulted in the release of 105 hostages.12 Instead of negotiating additional hostage releases, the Israeli government prefers to continue its military operation, despite the obvious risk to the hostages.

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There is additional evidence that families of the hostages fear that if they speak up too loudly their family members might be pushed to the end of the list of hostages to be released.15 In mid-March, the chief of staff of the IDF unit responsible for the hostages resigned as he felt that Israel’s political leadership was not interested in moving towards a deal.16 Similar feelings have been expressed within Israel’s security apparatus.9 Several government members scorned the hostages’ family members.17 In late March some of the family members of the hostages publicly blamed Israel’s Prime Minister for continuously postponing a deal to release them.18 In mid-April, two members of Israel negotiations team, at least one of whom was involved in it for six months, said explicitly that the government and especially Israel’s prime minister are trying to delay and even prevent a deal to release the hostages.19 A former spokesperson for the families of the hostages agreed that Israel’s Prime Minister was preventing a deal for personal political reasons.20 Several domestic and foreign sources – including from Qatar – said similar things.21 In May, coalition MPs ramped up their explicit attacks against the families of hostages,22 while police and government supporters used violence against them in the streets.23 In late May, an aide to the Israeli Prime Minister said that Israel will not end the war for a deal to free all hostages, and verbally attacked family members of the hostages who visited him.24

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