Situation at a glance: Hamas questions hostage deal after deadly airstrike

After an Israeli air strike in the south of the Gaza Strip that left dozens dead, the prospects for a ceasefire and the release of Hamas hostages are uncertain. All options are open, including breaking off indirect negotiations, the Islamist organization’s vice-chairman, Khalil al-Hajja, told the Arab television station Al Jazeera. Its military leader in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Deif, was not killed in the Israeli attack, Hamas said.

“Mohammed Deif is fine and continues to command the resistance against the Israeli enemy,” Hamas official Ali Barakeh told the German Press Agency in Beirut. Israel’s army said that the attack west of the city of Khan Yunis was aimed at the leader of the military Hamas wing. None of the information could initially be independently verified. “I tell (Israel Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu that Muhammad Al-Deif is now hearing you and mocking your lies,” al-Hajja was quoted as saying.

Netanyahu: No certainty yet

The Israeli army said it was still investigating whether Deif and Rafa Salama, the commander of Hamas’ Khan Yunis Brigade, were killed in the air strike. “There is still no absolute certainty,” Netanyahu told the press in Tel Aviv. The Hamas men are said to have been the “masterminds of the October 7 massacre” in Israel. The massacre more than nine months ago was the trigger for the Gaza war. According to Palestinian sources, at least 90 people were killed in Israel’s latest air strike.

At least 300 other people were injured in the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, the Hamas-controlled health authority said. “The attack was carried out in a fenced-in area controlled by Hamas, where, according to our information, only Hamas terrorists and no civilians were present,” said the Israeli army. “It was a precise attack.” It is suspected that most of the victims were also terrorists. None of the information could be independently verified.

Netanyahu: We have the entire Hamas leadership in our sights

A military representative admitted in an online briefing that the object hit was located in the humanitarian zone declared by Israel west of the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. “But it was a fenced-off, guarded Hamas base manned by terrorists,” the army representative added. The military is also very sure that there were no Israeli hostages there at the time of the attack. Israel will eliminate the entire Hamas leadership, Netanyahu said at a press conference.

With this, Israel’s head of government was also referring to Jihija al-Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza. Deif is considered his number two. Hamas’ foreign chief, Ismail Haniya, accused Netanyahu of blocking a ceasefire in the war with “heinous massacres”. He called on the mediating states in the indirect negotiations – Egypt, Qatar and the USA – to stop Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip.

All options are open, but Hamas will “neither give Netanyahu what he wants nor give him the opportunity to blame them for the failure of the negotiations,” al-Hajja was quoted as saying by the Arab television channel Al Jazeera.

What will happen to the hostages?

The head of the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad, Daniel Barnea, plans to travel to the Qatari capital Doha in the next few days for another round of talks, reported the Israeli broadcaster Kan. The plans for the indirect negotiations do not seem to have been overturned for the time being by Israel’s recent attempt to kill the Hamas military chief, writes the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz”.

Meanwhile, thousands of people in Israel demonstrated again for an agreement to bring home the approximately 120 hostages still held by Hamas. Participants in the rallies in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of sabotaging the indirect negotiations to reach such an agreement. “We demand that you stop sabotaging the agreement, we demand that you sign the agreement,” the mother of one of the hostages was quoted as saying by Israeli media.

“Netanyahu is finishing off the hostages,” read a huge banner carried by demonstrators in Tel Aviv. One former abductee said: “I may look OK on the outside, but the pain is weighing on me more than anyone can imagine.” He was one of the lucky ones who was held captive in a house and not in a tunnel. “So if I suffered brutal conditions and abuse, what about the other 120 hostages?” the man said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force attacked positions of the militia in southern Lebanon following shelling by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah. As the Israeli army announced in the evening, the facility from which missiles had previously been fired at northern Israel had been bombed. In addition, a number of other Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructures” had been attacked, it said in a brief statement. No further details were given. The information could not initially be independently verified.

Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia have been fighting almost daily since the start of the Gaza war. Recently, the intensity of the fighting has increased significantly. There have been deaths on both sides. The Hezbollah militia says it is acting in solidarity with the Islamist Hamas in Gaza. It has long been feared that the conflict could escalate.

Attack also in Syria

As Israel’s army announced in the evening, two drones had approached Israel from Syrian territory. They were intercepted. The air force then attacked a command center and terrorist facilities used by the Syrian military’s air defense unit during the night. The information could not be verified at first.

According to unconfirmed Arab reports, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Syria was killed in the attack. Israel’s air force repeatedly bombs targets in the neighboring country. With the attacks in Syria, the Jewish state wants to prevent its arch-enemy Iran and its allied militias from expanding their military influence in the country. Iran is one of Syria’s most important allies.