Hamas: Video of captive IDF spotters was manipulated, female soldiers treated ethically (2024)

Hours after the broadcast of a video showing five female IDF spotters who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, the Gaza-based terror group issued a statement claiming that "the video was manipulated and the authenticity of what it contained cannot be confirmed."

The statement added that, "the female soldiers were treated according to the ethics of our resistance and no mistreatment of those soldiers in this unit was proven."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant in a call on Wednesday of the need for an effective mechanism to coordinate humanitarian and military operations in Gaza, the Pentagon said.

According to the statement, Austin also reiterated the United States' strong objections to the International Criminal Court prosecutor's "outrageous" application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.

Israel's war cabinet met late Wednesday to discuss negotiations aimed at securing a hostage-release deal with Hamas. At the end of the meeting, the Prime Minister's Office announced that ministers had instructed the Israeli negotiating team to continue talks.

According to sources involved in the discussion, it was "long, thorough and professional." During the course of the meeting, the source added, ministers examined proposals from the negotiating team aimed at restarting negotiations with Hamas and responding to the terror organization's demand for a complete cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, despite objection from Israel's political leadership to any such agreement.

The sources added that members of the war cabinet made decisions designed to give negotiators greater room for maneuver.

A foreign diplomat with knowledge of the talks between Israel and Hamas confirmed that despite what he referred to as "a significant impasse," there has been a concerted effort in recent days to get the sides back round the negotiating table and to formulate a creative solution to end the conflict.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, a favorite of the pro-Israel establishment and Donald Trump's most prominent opponent of the 2024 primary season, said she would vote for the presumed GOP contender, citing Joe Biden's Israel policies among other considerations.

Attacking Biden for pausing a shipment of heavy-payload bombs to Israel, she said "withholding them validates the totally false and destructive narrative that Israel is acting unjustly by defending herself."

"I can hardly imagine a more foolish move than Joe Biden withholding weapons from one of our closest allies," she continued.

See full story.

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has ordered the opening of an embassy in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo told journalists on Wednesday.

At the beginning of this month, Petro, who has heavily criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and requested to join South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice, said he would cut diplomatic relations with Israel over its actions in Gaza.

"President Petro has given the order that we open the Colombian embassy in Ramallah, the representation of Colombia in Ramallah, that is the next step we are going to take," Murillo said.

Ramallah serves as the administrative capital of the Palestinian state.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently been engaging with Republican Party leaders to secure an invitation to speak before a joint session of Congress.

Netanyahu's efforts began a few of months ago, but in recent days he has intensified his involvement in the process, in the wake of the ICC's chief prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against him and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

See full story.

WASHINGTON – Much ado has been made of U.S. President Joe Biden's policies since October 7 elevating the issue of Israel like never before ahead of a presidential election.

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has increasingly sought to focus on his rival's approach to the Gaza war in recent weeks, highlighting Biden's tensions with the Israeli government and his stance on the pro-Palestinian protest camps at numerous American colleges.

Bluster and rhetoric aside, however, a review of their most recent comments reveals a truth that holds deeper than the more easily digestible attack lines: both presidential candidates are displeased with how Israel is conducting the war and want it over as soon as possible.

See full analysis.

Egypt threatened on Wednesday to withdraw as a mediator in Gaza cease-fire negotiations after CNN reported that Egyptian intelligence changed terms of recent truce proposal and scuttled a deal.

"Attempts to cast doubt and offend Egypt's mediation efforts... will only lead to further complications of the situation in Gaza and the entire region and may push Egypt to completely withdraw from its mediation in the current conflict," Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt's State Information Service, said in a statement published on social media. Quoting three people familiar with the discussions, CNN on Tuesday said Egyptian intelligence changed terms of a cease-fire proposal that Israel agreed to earlier in May.

When Hamas announced on May 6 that it accepted the agreement, it was not the proposal that fellow mediators from the U.S. and Qatar thought was submitted to Hamas for review, according to CNN. The changes made by Egyptian intelligence caused anger and recrimination among U.S., Israeli and Qatari officials and caused an impasse in the talks, the CNN report said.

Rashwan said in the statement that Cairo's participation as a mediator resulted from "repeated requests and insistence" from Israel and the U.S.

Egypt said some "parties" recently directed blame towards Egyptian and Qatari mediators and accused them of being biased, he added. Tensions have been growing between Egypt and Israel over the Israeli military operation in Rafah at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, just across the border from Egypt.

The video of the women spotters being taken by Hamas was released ahead of a war cabinet meeting on Wednesday in an attempt to influence their discussion on moving forward on a deadlocked hostage deal.

Present at the meeting will be members of the negotiating team, headed by Mossad Director David Barnea and Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, who will provide ideas for renewing the negotiations with Hamas.

There are diplomatic sources who describe Wednesday's meeting as "critical," saying it may determine whether the opportunity of moving forward with a deal is possible. However, other senior officials are calling it a "pointless meeting" that is mainly intended to signal to the hostages' families and the Israeli public that the government isn't abandoning the hostages. But in practice, the officials added, the gap between the Israeli and Hamas positions on a cease-fire is unbridgeable at this time.

This will be a follow-up meeting to the one held on Saturday night, during which the prime minister postponed a discussion on the possibility of advancing the talks presented by members of the negotiating team, and demanded a more in-depth document be drawn up.