Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, walks during an anti-Israel military show by Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip November 11, 2019. (Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
Hamas continues to wage psychological warfare against Israel, as ceasefire talks are underway in Doha, Qatar. The Gaza terror group refused to send its representatives to attend the negotiations, defined by U.S. officials as a “final stage” attempt but also a “last chance” effort to reach a deal.
On Thursday, the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization posted a photo of deceased ex-hostage Ofir Tzarfati (27), who was kidnapped on Oct. 7 from the Nova music festival and murdered in Hamas captivity. His body was retrieved from Gaza by IDF troops in November.
Tzarfati’s mother said in a statement that she chooses not to look at the photo and prefers to “remember Ofir as he was – a perfect, handsome, smiling, happy man.”
IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Hamas seeks to sow fear and terror among the Israeli public by spreading manipulative messages regarding the hostages.
The new image of Tzarfati’s body was published alongside a statement from a spokesperson for Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades. He described it as a second incident in which a guard killed an “enemy hostage,” adding that it does not represent the group’s “ethics” when dealing with prisoners.
“After investigating the killing of an enemy prisoner by his guard, it was found that the guard assigned to him acted in a vengeful manner contrary to instructions after receiving news of the martyrdom of his two children in one of the enemy’s massacres,” wrote Abu Obeida.
He claimed that Israel bears full responsibility for the suffering of the hostages, adding: “Your brutality is an imminent danger to your prisoners. Time is running out.”
This terror tactic is viewed in Israel as a Hamas effort to increase pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the group’s demands in the hostage deal negotiations.
An Israeli delegation arrived in Doha on Thursday for talks with U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators. The negotiations are expected to continue at least into Friday, according to U.S. National Security Spokesman John Kirby and Israeli officials.
“The resumption of these talks is an important step, and in the lead-up to this meeting, we’d already narrowed some gaps,” Kirby said. “Today, we are focused on the details of the implementation of the agreement. There remains a lot of work to do, given the complexity of the agreement.”
“The remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we must bring this process to a close,” he added.
Egyptian officials were quoted by local media as saying the disagreements in the talks are still going well. According to one report, Qatari Prime Minister Al-Thani contacted the Iranian regime to update them on the slight progress, suggesting they should seriously reconsider their expected retaliation against Israel given the developments.
The main gaps pertain to the IDF’s presence along Gaza’s border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, the Israeli forces’ withdrawal from densely populated areas, the return conditions of unarmed Gazans to the northern part of the Strip, as well as the number of hostages who will be released at each stage and a mechanism to determine which Palestinian prisoners they will be exchanged for.
Netanyahu insists that the outline would allow Israel to achieve all of its war objectives, which are the release of all hostages – alive and deceased, the elimination of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities and ensuring that Gaza will never pose a terror threat to Israel ever again.
Ahead of the talks, Israeli media reported that Netanyahu has agreed to broaden the mandate given to the negotiating team to discuss the substantial disputes with extended leeway.
