Both Qatar and Hamas have already described Biden’s optimism as premature.
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What’s stopping Israel from re-arresting the freed Palestinians again ?
I don’t have too much hopes for this deal. Just don’t see it happening.
Israel has no incentive to agree for a ceasefire. Their leaders have already doomed the Israeli hostages.
I don’t think these are unconnected. ‘Optimism’ in the White House is the Presidency putting weight behind it. Netanyahu so far has shown he is quite willing to cross lines that most Israeli leaders have not, but at some point those around him have to start wondering.
Meanwhile…
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Talks on relations between the factions are due to start this week in Moscow.
This is interesting…
One reason for Biden’s optimism may have been Israel’s reported agreement to release high-profile Palestinian prisoners convicted of major terrorism charges as part of the deal. Under a US proposal, 15 of these prisoners would be exchanged for five female Israeli soldiers, the New York Times reported.
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The force of the blast was so intense that only debris and small bones remain.
I don’t always agree with Owen Jones, but he’s spot-on here:
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More than 100 Palestinians are reported to have been killed while waiting for aid to be delivered in northern Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry blamed Israeli forces, and Palestinian media cited medical sources saying Israeli troops fired at the crowd.
An Israeli military source said troops opened fire as they believed soldiers were “endangered”.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement also said dozens were killed being trampled and run over by trucks.
A journalist in Gaza City told the BBC that Israeli tanks fired on a crowd who had come to get supplies. The Israeli military says it has no knowledge of shelling in the area and that the incident is under review.
Graphic videos posted on social media show the dead in Gaza City loaded onto emptied aid lorries and a donkey cart.
It happened hours before Gaza’s health ministry announced that more than 30,000 people, including 21,000 children and women, had been confirmed killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
(…)
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What these figures exclude is around 10,000 are missing and presumed to be dead and buried under the rubbles and an undetermined number of people arrested and interned at unspecified locations.
In total (dead, injured, missing, and captive) that’s 5% of Gaza population.
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100 killed, 700 injured 
21,000 women and Children…
we’re a fucked up species.
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And you’re only just realising this?
In this case Israel
This guy is one of the rare US politicians talking sense, and calling things like they are. It’s a pity that people in the US don’t listen to what he says, and prefer to support and vote for war criminals.
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I’ve been saying it for years.
Decades, in fact.
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He can’t be accused of anti-semitism.
No, indeed. Although I wouldn’t put it past Netanyahou’s gang to accuse him of exactly that.
One of the few politicians who can’t be accused of that. He should speak up more. Doesn’t matter what the rabid dogs bark, no one in their sane mind would believe Bernie’s an anti-semitic. How can a Jew be anti-semitic?
I like him. I just thought he was too passive in terms of foreign affairs. But it’s nice to see that he’s taking a firmer stance.
You will be surprised. There’s the trope of the self-hating Jew I think?
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