{"id":17028,"date":"2024-03-16T00:50:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T00:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/16\/senior-hamas-official-says-he-cannot-reassure-anyone-that-hostages-in-gaza-are-safe\/"},"modified":"2024-03-16T00:50:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T00:50:30","slug":"senior-hamas-official-says-he-cannot-reassure-anyone-that-hostages-in-gaza-are-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/16\/senior-hamas-official-says-he-cannot-reassure-anyone-that-hostages-in-gaza-are-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Hamas official says he \u2018cannot reassure anyone\u2019 that hostages in Gaza are safe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cI cannot now reassure you, anyone, because all these war prisoners are facing the same bombardment and starvation our people\u00a0(are)\u00a0facing on the ground,\u201d said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas\u2019 political bureau, even as he\u00a0\u201cabsolutely\u201d\u00a0denied the allegations of sexual abuse. <\/p>\n

During the interview, Naim rejected defining Hamas\u2019 attacks as terrorism, falsely claiming that his organization does not target civilians. Instead, he blamed Israel for carrying out\u00a0what he claimed is\u00a0\u201cstate terrorism\u201d in Gaza and reiterated Hamas\u2019\u00a0calls for Palestinians to join in \u201carmed resistance\u201d against Israel during the\u00a0Muslim\u00a0holy month of Ramadan, which began Sunday night. <\/p>\n

Israel has denied targeting civilians and accuses Hamas of hiding behind civilian infrastructure. More than 31,000 people, a majority of whom are women and children, have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military campaign began, according the health ministry in the enclave. <\/p>\n

Fate of hostages, sexual violence allegations<\/h2>\n

A week after a United Nations team led by UN special representative Pramila <\/strong>Patten said it found \u201cclear and convincing information\u201d that some women held hostage by Hamas had\u00a0been raped or sexually abused, and that\u00a0there were \u201creasonable grounds\u201d to believe the sexual violence was ongoing,\u00a0Naim said he \u201cabsolutely\u201d denied the allegations. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was not able to show any proof and solid evidence from an eyewitness,\u201d Naim said. \u201cShe hasn\u2019t met any of the victims.\u201d <\/p>\n

Patten\u2019s team interviewed 34 people, obtaining firsthand accounts from released hostages as well as testimony from survivors, and witnesses, health and service providers, and first responders to the October 7 attack. <\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the first-hand accounts of released hostages, the mission team received clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment occurred against some women and children during their time in captivity,\u201d the UN report says. <\/p>\n

Hamas has denied international organizations any access to those hostages still in captivity to assess their wellbeing. <\/p>\n

While Naim denied the allegations of sexual violence, he said Hamas was unable to account for the wellbeing of the hostages because of the continued bombardment of Gaza. A ceasefire, he said, was necessary to \u201ccollect more data\u201d about their fate. <\/p>\n

The odds of a ceasefire agreement materializing remain uncertain. <\/p>\n

For weeks, mediators have described the deal as one that would happen in multiple phases, and the first stage would see the fighting pause for about six weeks and the release of around 40 Israeli hostages and a large number of Palestinians. <\/p>\n

The proposal envisions that a permanent ceasefire would be agreed upon after that initial exchange of hostages and prisoners, as well as a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. <\/p>\n

Hamas has consistently demanded a permanent ceasefire and the pullback of Israeli troops as a condition of any deal, which the Israeli government has rejected. <\/p>\n

Upon receiving the latest proposal, the Israeli Prime Minister\u2019s office called it \u201cridiculous\u201d and said Thursday that \u201cHamas is continuing to hold to unrealistic demands,\u201d but an Israeli delegation is being sent to Doha, Qatar for further talks. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur impression is it is not going to be easy to convince the Israelis of this,\u201d the diplomat said. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo you believe that we are so naive to accept going for a temporary humanitarian ceasefire for six weeks or two months to give the Israelis all what\u00a0(they are)\u00a0looking for?\u201d Naim said. \u201cI think any, any rational politician around the world, he will expect to reach a permanent quiet, a permanent ceasefire so that we can go from this point out to relieve\u00a0the people on the ground to rebuild the Gaza Strip again.\u201d <\/p>\n

Asked for a response to Naim\u2019s remarks, an Israeli government official said: \u201cPrime Minister Netanyahu\u2019s government has freed 112 hostages to date and is committed to free all the hostages. Once Hamas\u2019 delusional demands come down to earth, there can be another humanitarian pause for a hostage release deal,\u201d the official said. <\/p>\n

Israel has limited the amount of humanitarian aid entering key parts of the Gaza Strip and is responsible under international humanitarian law for ensuring that Gaza\u2019s civilian population does not starve. <\/p>\n

As for Hamas\u2019 responsibility? <\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, yes, we have all the responsibility towards our people. And therefore, from day one, we have looked for ending this aggression and stopping the slaughter of our people. And we have contacted all the mediators to reach a final,\u00a0total ceasefire. But you are accusing Hamas, as if we are the\u00a0ones\u00a0who are committing all these crimes, and who are blocking all the humanitarian aid to come into Gaza,\u201d Naim said. <\/p>\n

In recent weeks, many civilians in Gaza have increasingly blamed Hamas for the mounting starvation. When speaking about the distribution of aid, displaced individuals accused Hamas of taking humanitarian aid meant for civilians and taking it for its fighters. <\/p>\n

Naim denied the claims, asserting that Hamas\u00a0was\u00a0\u201cfighting for the people, and not fighting against the people.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ramadan and the \u2018month of jihad\u2019<\/h2>\n

The interview came during the first week of Ramadan, which has been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in previous years. This year, it comes against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza, Israeli crackdowns on Palestinian militant groups in the occupied West Bank and Hamas\u2019 calls for more attacks. <\/p>\n

Ahead of the interview, Hamas issued a statement calling on\u00a0the\u00a0Palestinians in the occupied West Bank\u00a0\u201cto\u00a0continue clashing with the Zionist occupation in support of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and our steadfast people in Gaza, especially as we experience the blessings of the holy month of Ramadan, the month of jihad and resistance.\u201d <\/p>\n

Naim said Palestinians have a right to pursue \u201cfreedom and dignity\u201d and\u00a0an\u00a0independent state with Jerusalem as its capital through both diplomatic means and what he called \u201carmed resistance.\u201d <\/p>\n

But pressed on whether Hamas is seeking to inspire terrorist attacks against Israel during Ramadan, Naim rejected that label. <\/p>\n

Naim\u00a0also\u00a0insisted that Hamas does not target civilians, but Israeli settlers armed with weapons and\u00a0those\u00a0responsible for violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. <\/p>\n

Hamas killed hundreds of civilians \u2013 including women and children \u2013 during its attack on October 7\u00a0and has targeted civilians for years, in addition to carrying out attacks on Israeli forces. <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI cannot now reassure you, anyone, because all these war prisoners are facing the same bombardment and starvation our people\u00a0(are)\u00a0facing on the ground,\u201d said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas\u2019 political bureau, even as he\u00a0\u201cabsolutely\u201d\u00a0denied the allegations of sexual abuse. During the interview, Naim rejected defining Hamas\u2019 attacks as terrorism, falsely claiming that his organization <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}