Facing a new phase of Hamas brutality

With its announcement that militants guarding Israeli hostages in the buildings and tunnels of Gaza had “new instructions” to kill them if Israeli troops closed in, Hamas has signalled the opening of a chilling new chapter in an already brutal war.

The terrorists released a comic book-style image of a kneeling figure threatened with a gun, and a video of Eden Yerushalmi, 24, a bartender at the Nova music festival and one of six hostages shot at close range in Hamas captivity last week before Israeli forces could reach them.

As Israel held funerals for the slain hostages, Hamas announced that it would drip-feed footage of what it described as the “final messages” of the remaining five.

It released a second video on Tuesday, featuring Ori Danino, a 25-year-old who was abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7. Danino had helped other festival-goers escape the horror.

Hamas’ new tactics – which Yerushalmi’s family say amount to “psychological terror” – will further fan the fury in Israeli society.

Crowds have swelled in multiple Israeli cities, with protesters blaming Netanyahu for failing to sign a ceasefire deal and bring the hostages home.

Negotiators continued work on the ceasefire proposal, even in the aftermath of the IDF’s extraction from Gaza over the weekend of the bodies of six hostages, who were executed by Hamas terrorists just days before troops found them.

Mossad chief David Barnea confirmed on Monday to mediators in the talks with Hamas that Israel was prepared to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor, which runs along the Gaza-Egypt border, in the second stage of a hostage release deal – hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly declared he would refuse to do so, foreign sources familiar with the negotiations told Haaretz.

Barnea, who travelled urgently to Qatar on Monday, had informed the representatives that Israel stood behind its agreement to pull out all its forces from the area in line with the Biden plan, as long as its operational demands were met.

But on Monday evening Netanyahu doubled down on his demand for Israel to remain in control of Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border during his press conference responding to the hostage murders.

An unnamed source familiar with the negotiations told CNN, “this guy torpedoed everything in one speech”.

Netanyahu’s condition that Israeli troops remain along Philadelphi and the Netzarim Corridors, another key strip of land in central Gaza, has been rejected by Hamas as a deal-breaker. It also prompted clashes with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who says a deal that frees the hostages should be the top priority.

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Hamas’ brutal new tactics signal new phase in war and hostage crisis (CNN)

Official says Netanyahu’s press briefing ‘torpedoed’ hostage deal efforts – report (Times of Israel)

Hours before Netanyahu's speech: Mossad Chief said Israel willing to exit Philadelphi
 (Haaretz)

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RELATED ANALYSIS

A Cease-Fire deal now would be a victory for Israel (Graham Allison and Amos Yadlin, Foreign Affairs)
Had any of Israel’s 13 previous prime ministers been in office today, there is no doubt that she or he would have accepted the deal that Israel designed and the United States proposed at the end of May. 

Netanyahu just mapped out how Israel would rule Gaza forever (Aluf Benn, Haaretz)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu's declaration that Israel will retain control of the Philadelphi route serves his desire to maintain his unholy trinity: The prime ministership, incitement against the left, and the occupation

Under Netanyahu, Israel is in existential danger  (David Horovitz,Times of Israel)
Facing a genocidal Iranian regime and its proxies, Netanyahu’s new obsession with the Philadelphi Corridor risks the lives of the hostages and, ultimately, the future of our country

The 'Holy' Philadelphi Route will be paved with hostages' bodies as Israel reoccupies Gaza (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz)
Netanyahu and his ministers know that the army's presence on the Gaza-Egypt border didn't prevent Hamas' attacks in the past. The goal actually is to keep Israel in Gaza forever, a goal that's no longer folly, but evil