It's been
confirmed by Israeli officials (
a ) that the four deceased hostages expected to be retrieved tomorrow are the Bibas mother and children, and 84-year-old peace activist Oded Lifshitz. It will be interesting to see how this will be handled by Hamas; whether they'll stage another repulsively macabre circus show, or whether they'll have the self-control to hand over the remains privately (even if only because they know how atrocious the optics would otherwise be).
I have to say I'm very surprised that they're releasing the Bibas family this early. Even after the final exchange of live hostages on Saturday, there will still be another set of deceased hostages to be released as part of Phase I. The only explanation I can think of is that Hamas is trying to exploit the moment to sow further division between the "get everyone out ASAP, no matter the cost" and the "just fucking raze Gaza to the ground already" factions in the Israeli public. There will be a lot of highly emotional, reactive, and opinionated Israelis in the coming days (especially once the funerals start, and no doubt the Bibas funeral(s) will be amongst the most attended in Israeli history), and in all likelihood, a lot of in-fighting. Any internal chaos to distract Israel is surely a win in Hamas' book.
Also surprising is Hamas' list of the
six hostages to be released (
a ) on Saturday. Among them are two men with mental health issues who have been held captive in Gaza for a decade, and are now presumed to still be alive: Hisham al-Sayed, a Bedouin Muslim, and Avera Mengistu, an Ethiopian Jew, both now 37.
No statement yet from BLM condemning the Palestinians for holding a mentally ill Black man hostage for over ten years, but I'm sure they're nearly finished drafting it.
Sorry to double-post, but they
are holding a ceremony to release the deceased hostages.
(
x ;
a )
(
x ;
a )
(
x ;
a )
They're going to get razed to the ground, and they fucking deserve it.