The increasingly unstable ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas leaves unresolved the key challenges facing Israel in securing its existence as a refuge from Jew-hatred and pogroms. Hamas, though weakened by Israeli blows over the last year, is taking advantage of the ceasefire to try to reassert its dictatorial domination over the Palestinians in Gaza. Its goal has not changed: to destroy Israel and to kill the Jews.
During the anti-Jewish pogrom Hamas carried out on Oct. 7, 2023, its death squads murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands and seized 251 hostages.
As of Feb. 5, Hamas had released 13 of the more than 90 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. At least 34 are dead. Hamas also released five Thai farmworkers it had kidnapped. The Nazi-like outfit targets all those who collaborate with Jews.
All of the hostages Hamas holds should be freed immediately, ceasefire or no ceasefire.
In exchange for releasing 33 hostages in the first 42 days of the ceasefire, Israel has begun releasing 737 Palestinians accused or convicted of killing Jews, including members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It has also started releasing more than 1,000 Gazans detained since Oct. 7. The release of the remaining Israeli hostages — mostly men of military age — would be part of negotiations for phase two.
During phase one of the ceasefire, Israeli troops are supposed to leave the Netzarim corridor, which divides Gaza in two, and is an important tool in weakening Hamas’ hold on the territory. A small privately run force of Egyptian and former U.S. soldiers has begun operating there, overseeing the checkpoints where thousands of Gazans are returning north.
During the second phase of the ceasefire Israeli troops are also supposed to withdraw to a buffer zone inside Gaza along the Israeli border. Hamas says that Israel must completely withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor along the Egyptian border as part of the deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disputes this. Any Israeli withdrawal while Hamas is not dismantled is a deadly threat to Israel’s existence. In fact, little has been settled in the negotiations that could lead toward the accords stated goal of “sustainable calm.”
Hamas’ stage-managed releases
Armed and masked Hamas thugs have dominated the stage-managed releases of the hostages. The hostages are ordered to wave and smile. In at least one of the “ceremonies,” a representative of the International Red Cross sat on stage and signed Hamas’ “release form.”
That action by the Red Cross, which never once visited the hostages in captivity to ensure their well-being, was designed to bolster Hamas’ legitimacy.
During the releases of Gadi Moses, Arbel Yehoud and Agam Berger, it was clear that Hamas instructed the crowds to act threateningly toward the hostages, “protected” by Hamas fighters. That’s to foster their false narrative that most Gazans share Hamas’ Jew-hatred.
Hamas is using the hostage release to send a message to the people of Gaza as part of trying to rebuild its forces. They are saying, challenge us at your own risk. And to the hostages, we’ve released you now, but we plan to return to massacre more Jews as we did on Oct. 7.
One of the slogans on the banner Hamas used as a backdrop during the hostage releases says, “The victory of the oppressed people vs Nazi Zionism.” That stands reality on its head.
Israel came into existence because the Jews had nowhere else to go after the Holocaust, where the Nazis organized the slaughter of 6 million Jews — 40% of all the Jews in the world — and the “democratic” imperialist powers in Washington and elsewhere slammed their doors shut.
Hamas comes out of the reactionary legacy of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and of Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who organized pogroms against the Jews in Palestine in the 1920s and ’30s and worked directly with the Nazis during World War II to try to extend their Holocaust to the Middle East.
The 1988 founding covenant of Hamas expresses its goal — the same as the Nazi’s “Final Solution” — kill the Jews.
And Hamas’ claim to represent the “oppressed people” of Gaza is also a lie. Hamas — with its promotion of Jew-hatred, its use of the Palestinian people as human shields, its dictatorial rule in Gaza — is the biggest obstacle the Palestinians in Gaza and beyond face to be able to fight for their national rights.
More information is coming out on the conditions the hostages have faced. Just freed Gadi Moses, 80 years old, was kept isolated from other hostages for his entire 15 months captive. Like other hostages, he lost weight due to the harsh conditions and lack of food, in his case more than 30 pounds.
While joy over the release of each hostage is widespread in Israel, few ignore the reality that the accompanying release of hardened Jew-hating terrorists boosts Hamas’ capacity to carry out more pogroms.
“We must bring everyone home,” Itay Dekel-Chen, whose brother Sagui is still being held hostage, told Ynetnews, “but at the same time, this comes at a heavy price, with serious future security risks. There is the sanctity of life and the sanctity of our people and land.”
U.S. gov’t goal: defend imperialism
The incoming administration of Donald Trump was part of pressing Netanyahu to agree to the tenuous ceasefire. At the same time, the new administration has released weapons that the Biden administration had frozen in its bid to force Israel to end its war before Hamas is defeated.
The U.S. government’s starting point — whatever party is in power — is advancing and enforcing the rapacious economic, political and military interests of U.S. imperialism in the region, not ensuring the safety of the Jewish people. Exactly how the new U.S. administration plans to do this remains to be seen.
The Jerusalem Post reported Jan. 30 that Omer Dostri, a spokesperson for Netanyahu, said the ceasefire accord “isn’t perfect — it came at a cost.”
Netanyahu, while seeking U.S. imperialism’s backing, has acted on the basis that Israel must be prepared to act alone to defend itself if needed or it could cease to exist, something that would be a huge setback for working people everywhere.
Netanyahu became the first foreign head of state to visit Trump, since the president’s second term began.
“Israel has three goals,” Netanyahu said at a joint press conference Feb. 4 after their meeting. “Destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, secure the release of all of our hostages, and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”
In response to questions from the press on whether or not the ceasefire will continue, Netanyahu noted that in the middle of “this temporary ceasefire” Hamas leaders continue to boast that they are going to do Oct. 7 again and bigger.
“We can’t leave Hamas there because Hamas will continue the battle to destroy Israel,” he said. “You can’t talk about peace … if this toxic murderous organization is left standing.”