How Hamas's Disinformation Deceived the International Media

 Exposed - how Hamas succeeded to deceive the international media

Palestinian Pulls Wool over European Eyes, ‘Pay-for-slay’ policy not over.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had signed a decree in February canceling the program, an announcement which was met with widespread European approval.

However, The PA paid stipends to security prisoners and to families of “martyrs” at PA post offices on Saturday morning, despite publicly claiming to have ended the practice, according to a new report by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) director Itamar Marcus on Sunday.

“Yesterday, Saturday, Oct. 25, at 10:00 a.m., the PA Post Offices paid terrorists’ salaries and stipends to families of terrorist ‘Martyrs,’” Marcus wrote, adding that there was “no official announcement” and that payments were delayed so “everyone, even the terrorists’ families, would think that the program had ended.”

PMW published screenshots of social media conversations among recipients discussing the amounts deposited, including one exchange stating, “50% of the salaries and [those making less than 2,000 received] the full amount. FYI, the salary is for June.” PMW said the percentage matched the partial salaries the PA paid civil servants earlier this month due to its fiscal crisis.24:15

/The watchdog outlined a two-week timeline in which families of prisoners and those killed in attacks pressed the PA for updates, held small demonstrations in Ramallah on October 20, and were told informally by post-office staff that payments would be made on Saturday without an official statement. On the morning of October 25, local Telegram channels began reporting that “the salaries of the prisoners, the wounded, and the Martyrs have arrived at the post office,” and PMW said that payments proceeded “as usual” through the day.

PMW argued that the PA could not announce the transfers because it had assured donors it had ended so-called “pay for slay.” PA President Abbas signed a decree in February revoking the system of payments to families of prisoners and those killed or wounded in attacks, according to multiple reports at the time.

Europe 'welcomes the reforms'

European officials later welcomed what they described as reforms. In a September 25 communiqué, the French Foreign Ministry said, “We welcome the reforms already underway by the Palestinian Authority, including: the abrogation of the prisoners’ payment system, that is now effective.”

Yet again the PA manages to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community.

Hamas Pallywood Productions Produce a Body

 Hamas clearly staged a body “recovery” in Gaza yesterday: Eyewitness accounts from IDF reservists stationed in eastern Gaza City said Hamas operatives were seen digging in the area, then bringing a body from a nearby building, and burying it in a shallow pit. The group then reportedly called the Red Cross to observe as they “uncovered” the body, attempting to portray it as a genuine recovery.

Army Radio reported that the entire sequence was filmed by an Israeli military drone, though the IDF has not yet commented on the incident. Later that night, Hamas handed the body to the Red Cross, which transferred it to IDF troops in Gaza. The body was then taken to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv for identification.

 After a dramatic night, Israeli authorities now believe that the body transferred by Hamas does not belong to one of the 13 fallen soldiers whose remains are still missing. The identification process continued under strict forensic review. When a body, belonging to Ofir Tzarfati, 27, was first recovered from Gaza, some remains were missing. Hamas has now handed over additional remains belonging to Ofir under the guise of them belonging to one of the 13 dead hostages still in Gaza.

When will President Trump realise that Hamas is making a mockery of the “ceasefire” deal.

Hamas has regained de facto control over the Strip

As most Israelis expected, the Trump deal has given Hamas the opportunity to regain control of the Gaza Strip. Israeli intelligence and security assessments indicate that Hamas has regained control of the Gaza Strip after the recent ceasefire and hostage deal was implemented. As per the agreement, Israeli troops withdrew from urban areas and suspended combat operations against the terror group.

Hamas has resumed many of its pre-October 7 governing functions, including collecting taxes from residents, operating municipal services, and violently suppressing any opposition to its rule, Hebrew-language Channel 13 reported.

Numerous videos emerging from Gaza show Hamas terrorists publicly executing and torturing members of local clans accused of collaborating with Israel or attempting to establish an alternative administration in the territory.

“Hamas operatives are on the ground, and naturally they’ll rule,” a Gaza resident using the pseudonym Salah told The Times of Israel. Salah added that most Gazans oppose Hamas’ rule but “feel there is a vacuum; there is no one to enter and replace them.”

Israeli diplomat Jeremy Issacharoff told ILTV that the United States is “very concerned” about Hamas’ delay in implementing Phase Two of the Trump-brokered ceasefire agreement, which requires the group to disarm and allow an alternative governing force to be established.

Hamas claims it does not know the whereabouts of the remaining 13 hostage bodies — including two foreign nationals and five IDF soldiers — but Israeli officials believe the terror group is strategically withholding the remains as a bargaining chip.

Returning all the bodies is a precondition for advancing to the next stage of the ceasefire deal.

Issacharoff said Hamas is using the time it claims to be searching for the bodies to strengthen its control over Gaza.

“I think the prime minister would want to see clear indications from America that she’s intending to pressure all the parties involved — including not just Hamas, but also Turkey and Qatar — in order to pressure Hamas more to complete the first phase of the withdrawal,” Issacharoff told ILTV.

Channel 14 reported that Israeli defense officials estimate Hamas still commands about 20,000 fighters and possesses hundreds of rockets. Despite two years of warfare, more than half of Hamas’ underground tunnel network is believed to remain intact.

Once again it appears that Israel is never allowed to win a war against Hamas. Any ceasefire is seen by Hamas as a "Hudna", a respite in order to rebuild and fight again in the future.

Military intelligence officials warned that Hamas has taken advantage of the truce to rebuild its capabilities in the Strip, reopening tunnel networks, restoring damaged weapons, recruiting new terrorists and reorganizing its leadership. The officials said these developments demonstrate that Hamas has no intention of disarming or relinquishing power.

Westerners help Hamas win the propaganda war

Tom Gross  25 October 2025.  For full article see https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-westerners-helping-hamas-win-the-propaganda-war/

After two years of war, and despite Israel’s many successes on the battlefield, Hamas can also claim a kind of victory – at least for now. The terror group has survived and is once again exerting control in the areas of Gaza under its authority. Public executions, whippings, stonings and kneecappings have returned. In the first five days of the ceasefire, Hamas executed at least 100 Gazans.

Hamas’s survival was achieved not only through its remaining fighters and its holding of hostages, but also thanks to a chorus of western apologists. A coalition of so-called progressives and professional activists has excused, rationalised and defended the group’s actions across universities and in newspaper editorials. The BBC, Sky, the Guardian, the FT and the New York Times have all parroted Hamas talking points.

Tales of impending famine in Gaza, for instance, were broadcast as fact, sourced from UN bureaucrats and ‘aid agencies’ with long records of anti-Israel bias and, in some cases, open sympathy for Hamas. This isn’t journalism: it’s agenda-driven activism disguised as news. What the BBC and others failed to grasp is that, for Hamas, the western media is the battlefields.

From the outset, even before Israeli troops had entered Gaza, Hamas’s operatives and sympathisers in the West were shouting about ‘genocide’ and ‘famine’. It was a propaganda trap – and the western media walked right into it.

Consider, for example, these headlines from the early weeks of the conflict in 2023:

11,15,30 October, 6 November: “Fuel in Gaza will run out in 48 hours”

The pattern speaks for itself. It’s been the same story with Gaza being ‘on the brink of famine’ for the past two years. This is how it works:

Step one: The Hamas ‘health ministry’ makes up a casualty number which could be debunked by the most cursory statistical analysis.

Step two: Aid organisations repeat the number without independent confirmation.

Step three: UN agencies in Gaza (some staffed by Hamas members) cite the aid organisations.

Step four: Media outlets quote the UN agencies.

Step five: Hamas’s supporters in the West claim the numbers are ‘UN verified’.

UN officials have also contributed to the fiction directly. In May, Tom Fletcher, a humanitarian coordinator for the organisation, told BBC Radio 4: ‘There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them.’ Almost no babies died as a result of the war in the following days. But that didn’t stop the BBC running the claim in bulletins and news outlets around the world repeating it, citing the BBC as a reliable source.

The Hamas narrative has been amplified, too, by disinformation campaigns driven by Iranian, Russian and Chinese state-linked bots on social media, which have exploited Gaza as a means of destabilising western societies. These regimes understood how easily such narratives could tap into a pre-existing willingness among many in the West to believe anti-Semitic libels.

Today, falsehoods are disseminated by journalists, academics and UN officials – cloaked in the language of human rights but echoing ancient prejudices.

Why were Hamas’s inflated casualty figures reported as facts? Why were incorrect claims of Israel bombing hospitals repeated without scrutiny – while confirmed cases of Hamas rockets hitting Israeli hospitals in Ashkelon and Beersheba were ignored? In part, this was down to journalistic complacency. The facts were accessible.

Independent researchers discovered that some of the most widely shared images of ‘starvation in Gaza’ were from Yemen. One prominent photo showing a skeletal child was highlighted by the media as evidence of famine. In reality, the child wasn’t malnourished due to famine. He had cerebral palsy, hypoxemia and other genetic conditions. That didn’t prevent the Guardian, Times and New York Times running it on their front pages, inflaming the emotions of millions of readers. Despite its resources, the much-touted BBC Verify unit missed these falsehoods.

The good news? Large swaths of the British public aren’t buying it. Scroll through the reader comments under articles about Israel, and you’ll find thousands of ordinary people who haven’t lost their critical faculties. They know casualty figures from terrorist regimes aren’t a sacred truth. They can spot propaganda when they see it.

Unlike some intellectuals, they don’t lose all logic the moment the word ‘Israel’ is uttered. As George Orwell once quipped: ‘You must be an intellectual. Only an intellectual could believe something quite so stupid.’ Today, he might have aimed that line at Guardian readers or BBC news staff.

In this war, it is not Israel or even Hamas that has lost its purpose, but the media.

The BBC’s Distorted News Coverage for Kids

 The BBC operates a programme Newsround—a long-running children’s news program that began in the 1970s as part of afternoon kids’ television. Today, it appears as a weekday bulletin on CBBC, the BBC’s dedicated children’s channel, and runs as a digital platform on the BBC News website.

Newsround markets itself as an accessible way for young audiences to understand major events, while still using the same on-the-ground reporters and journalists who deliver the BBC’s regular news broadcasts. It promises to explain complex global issues in simple terms understandable for children,

A review of Newsround’s coverage of the Israel–Hamas war since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, massacre reveals something deeply disturbing: the BBC is not simply reporting events to children. It is actively shaping how the next generation perceives Israel, Hamas, and the wider conflict—leaving out key facts, distorting context, and sanitizing terrorism.

 On October 7^th, its headline read: “Israel: ‘We are at war’ says PM following Hamas rocket attacks.” From the very first line, the framing was clear: this was about rockets, not massacres.

Children were told that:

• “Fighting, which started on Saturday morning, has continued overnight.”
• “Dozens of armed people from Hamas – the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza – crossed the border on Saturday into Israel from Gaza in a surprise attack.”
• “Thousands of rockets were launched toward Israel, setting off air raid sirens across the country.”
• And that the Israeli military was striking “targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the barrages of rockets.” (this did not start until October 9^th!!)

They were NOT told about the civilians who were killed in their homes, the young people murdered at a music festival, or the more than 250 hostages dragged into Gaza.

On October 9, the first weekday broadcast after the attacks, Newsround reporter Anna Foster, who was sent to Israel in the aftermath summarized the previous 48 hours for her young audience: “Well, it’s been a really frightening night for people who live here in southern Israel because all night long they’ve heard the loud bangs and explosions from missiles being destroyed in the sky. And most of them don’t actually hit the ground, but some do.”

Foster then showed a damaged home in southern Israel, explaining that an eight-year-old boy had been injured there, “but he’s been taken to hospital and he’s okay.”

This was the BBC’s child-friendly summary of the first 48 hours of war: a few bangs, a boy in hospital who was “okay.”

On October 11, Newsround did eventually acknowledge that “Israeli civilians as well as soldiers were deliberately attacked by Hamas” and that “many people were killed, [including] four children.”

But the focus quickly shifted, pivoting to Gaza:

• “The Gazan population is very young. Almost half the people living in Gaza are children. You can see children everywhere on the streets. Many of them cannot go to school.”
• “Israel controls what goes in and out. They have now cut off water, electricity and food supplies. Many charities have warned that Palestinian civilians will suffer as a result.” 

This is how children’s minds are brainwashed.

Storm in the Arab World

 Muslim blogger Huda Jannat is shocked by what she's learned about Gaza since the war began. In a bold post, she describes what she's learned during the war and reveals the comfortable and prosperous life that Gazans and Hamas leaders have become accustomed to thanks to Israeli concessions. The post exposes Hamas's hypocrisy regarding the supposedly dire situation of Gazans before the war.

And here's what she posted:

1. Suddenly, we learned that the Gaza Strip, home to 2 million people, had 36 hospitals. There are Arab countries with 30 million populations that don't have that many hospitals.

2. Suddenly, we learned that Gaza received water, electricity, gas, and fuel for free from Israel. Of course, there's not a single person in the Arab world who doesn't pay for water, electricity, and fuel.

3. Suddenly, we learned that Gaza received $30 million a month from Qatar alone. And $120 million a month from UNRWA. And $50 million a month from the European Union. And $30 million a month from America. There are Arab countries drowning in debt, to whom no one gives even a million dollars.

4. Suddenly it turned out that Arabs lived better in Gaza than in many Arab countries.

5. Suddenly we realized that our brains had been "programmed" by the lies of the Muslim Brotherhood media.

6. Suddenly we learned that the children in Gaza are not ordinary children, as we used to think, but child fighters with machine guns and suicide belts, trained by Hamas.

7. Suddenly, it turned out that schools, hospitals, and mosques in Gaza are organized terror headquarters and weapons depots with underground Hamas tunnels.

8. Suddenly, it turned out that Gaza's doctors and teachers are actually active Hamas militants.

9. Suddenly, we learned that rockets and mortars are stored in children's rooms in Gaza homes.

10. Suddenly, we learned that Hitler and his book "Mein Kampf" were very popular in Gaza, and an Arabic translation was in almost every home, along with a portrait of the author.

11. Suddenly, it turned out that the majority of "civilians" in Gaza support Hamas and other terrorist groups, democratically voted for Hamas, and celebrated the October 7th massacre.

12. Suddenly, we learned that the so-called correspondents and journalists in Gaza working for Western media – CNN, AP, Reuters, and others – turned out to be Hamas militants who participated in the October 7th massacre.

13. Suddenly, it turned out that the so-called "peace activists" and "workers of international human rights organizations" – the UN, the Red Cross, and the WHO – turned out to be terrorists and corrupt members of Hamas.

Why is Main Stream Media Suddenly Silent?

 It is sickening that after the last two years of continuous Hamas propaganda in the main stream media who claim to care so much for the Palestinians, there has been little to no coverage of what's currently happening right now in Gaza.

Within the last 48 hours Hamas militants have been publicly executing their own citizens and videoing the murders, including woman and children, anyone that has been heard of taking a stand against or a view against Hamas, or have dared to say they do not want to be controlled or ruled by them any longer.

No court, no inquiry, no evidence, just shot dead in cold blood.  Where are the voices now of those who have been saying they want freedom for the Palestinians?  Where are they now? You either care or you don’t, which is it?

Blatant truth doesn't seem to be "in" right now, but I do hope this makes some of you think.

There must be a DEMAND for Hamas to stop and allow Palestinian civilians to choose their own future ...Let’s wait and see what happens. More than likely the hypocritical main stream media will remain totally silent.

Greta Thunberg’s flotilla creates 165 tons of air pollution, same as 206 trips from Tel Aviv to UK

 Greta Thunberg’s Sumud Flotilla produced a total of 165 tons of air pollution during its trip from Spain to Gaza, which the energy company Volta Solar calculated to be the same as 206 trips by plane from Tel Aviv to London.

“Over the course of 5 weeks of sailing, the almost 50 vessels in the flotilla consumed a total of about 53,600 liters of diesel,” the study from Volta Solar explained and added, “This fuel consumption is equivalent to direct emissions (tank-to-wheel, TTW) of about 144 thousand kg of CO₂ – that is, about 144 tons of carbon dioxide emitted from the engines alone.”

"It is not surprising that those who act hypocritically in the field of climate also chose the side of the forces of darkness and not the forces of light," said Eran Tal, CEO of Volta Solar and a reserve officer who founded the first solar unit in the IDF.

The analysis also points out that the main polluters were those who made the trip using only large, motorized ships, while sailboats that used their engines to a limited extent had a lesser impact.

How the Sumud Flotilla polluted the Mediterranean

Volta Solar pointed out that the flotilla’s trip to Gaza was equivalent to 206 flights from Tel Aviv to London in terms of air pollution. It was also equal to the total amount of pollution that 82 family cars produce on average in a year.

“An average family car emits about 2 tons of CO₂ per year (a trip of about 15,000 km); so 165 tons is equal to the emissions of about 82 vehicles for an entire year,” the study showed.

In terms of how many trees would be needed to absorb the total amount of pollution, the study explained that if an adult tree absorbs an average of 10–25 kg of CO₂ per year, then between 6,600 and 16,500 trees would be needed to offset such emissions.

The study also examined the ocean damage caused by the flotilla, which absorbed about 50 tons and altered the water's acidity levels.

“About 30% of the CO₂ emitted by humans is absorbed by the sea, causing an increase of about 26% in the acidity of ocean water,” they explain and add, “Of the 165 tons, about 50 tons will be absorbed by the sea over time: this impact damages the ability of corals, oysters and krill to build skeletons, and endangers the marine food chain and fish.”

 

A Miracle - 3 Months Food in Gaza

 Suddenly within 24 hours the UN finds 3 months stock of food for Gaza.

Yet anther lie  of the UN debunked

What will happen to the Gazan militias?

What will happen to the Gazan militias that oppose Hamas and "collaborate with Israel"?

There is a lot of discussion in Gazan channels about the fate of the militias of Yasser Abu Shabab in Rafah and Ashraf Al-Mansi in the north of the Strip, about which much has been written in recent months.

Channels affiliated with Hamas hint that their fate will be death at the hands of operatives from Hamas's military wing – and this is due to the agreement signed and the expected Israeli withdrawal.

Both Yasser Abu Shabab and Ashraf Al-Mansi published videos expressing support for the Trump plan – even after Trump published the withdrawal maps.

Looking at the maps, it can be understood why they have no concerns, and most of the media noise generated around them by Hamas channels is simply cheap propaganda.

On the map with yellow circles are the estimated locations (according to Palestinian sources) where the members of these militias are staying – al-Mansi in the north of the Strip (Beit Hanoun) and Abu Shabab in the south of the Strip (east Rafah).

One can see that even after the second stage of the Trump plan – which still seems very far off – the militias are staying in areas from which the IDF will not withdraw at all.

So, there is no apparent chance that the militias will be at special risk as a result of the IDF withdrawal according to the Trump plan.

Hamas is supposed to be disarmed and removed from power before the IDF evacuates the area between the red and yellow lines (which, according to the plan, is to be handed over to foreign forces anyway).

THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT

( Cross posted from Grandma's Army)

 

BUT how many people care about the truth any more?

What will it take for the world to wake up to the fact that they have been royally duped! Genocide and famine are the creation of Hamas to seek support from their supporters and useful idiots around the world and the world media fell for it.

The first time the name “Palestine” came into use was around 2000 years ago when the Romans invaded the Jewish nation of Judea. That, by the way, is where the word “Jew” came from. After the Romans occupied Judea, they called it Syria Palestina.

Fast forward to the end of the Ottoman Empire In 1917 and 1918, the area known as “Palestine” came under British control. In 1919, the League of Nations divided up the Ottoman empire and Great Britain was appointed to govern the area - establishing the British Mandate in Palestine. Out of self-interest and political motives, the British carved off a huge piece of Palestine and created Jordan. In 1947, the UN proposed to partition the rest of the land into an Arab and a Jewish country. The Jews accepted, (barely 10% of the original proposal) the Arabs refused. In 1948 the Jews living in what was once the British Mandate declared their country, Israel.

Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel Jews during the Mandate, (including my late husband), called themselves “Palestinians”. They had passports, issued by the Mandate, that gave their nationality as “Palestinian”.

In the Six-day War in1967 after Israel recaptured the Gaza Strip, the “West Bank” and East Jerusalem from the Jordanians, 355,000 Arab refugees were relocated from the Gaza Strip to Jordan. 

In 1971, King Hussein, fearing the growing influence of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO), cracked down on Palestinian nationalists (Black September). Over 3,000 Palestinians were massacred and some 20,000 fled Jordan.

It was in 1964 that the Arab population first started calling themselves “Palestinians”. Palestine as a distinct country never existed. Every record prior to the PLO Charter in 1964 proves the fabrication of “Palestinians”. That’s why there is no historical record of kings, heroes, myths or archeological sites, etc.

In 1977 Zuheir Mohsen, a senior PLO leader, stated explicitly: “The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity… Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons.”

The “Stanford Review” also detailed the fabrication of Palestine, and Soviet involvement in, “The Deception of Palestinian Nationalism”: ‘Historically, the Palestinian “desire for statehood” and “need for liberation” was invented in large part by the Soviet Union’.

The KGB had a talent for propaganda, which included the creation of the PLO. It is no coincidence that the blueprint for the PLO Charter was drafted in Moscow in 1964 and was approved by 422 Palestinian representatives’ hand- picked by the KGB. At that time, the USSR was in the business of creating people’s liberation fronts. Other examples included The National Liberation Army of Bolivia (1964) with Ernesto “Che” Guevara at its head and the National Liberation Army of Colombia (1965).”

When Jordan became an emirate, known as Transjordan, and later a state - its population is therefore ethnically "Palestinian", or at least had no ethnic differences with the Palestinians west of the Jordan river. The argument for an independent Palestinian state usually uses a "right to self determination" - to argue that ethnic Palestinians deserve a state of their own. So, why isn't the creation of Jordan as a state considered the Palestinian homeland? Who is it that we are arguing deserves their own state, and why are they culturally/ethnically different from Jordanians in the early 1900's?

Three times, Israel sought to offer a land-for-peace swap, on very generous terms, but was rejected.  This surely points to the fact that Palestine could only mean a country designed to be in opposition to Israel's existence. Added to the unquestionable fact that there does not exist any published form of the PLO Charter, (and after 2005 the Hamas charter) without the articles calling for the destruction of Israel. 

The original war in 1948 was between Israel and other Arab states, not Israel and the Palestinians, who didn't come into existence as a category of people, until almost 20 years later.

Civil War In Gaza?

 

So, point 1 of the 21-point “Peace Plan” was confirmed: a ceasefire and Hamas’s release of Israeli hostages in exchange for 2,000 convicted Palestinian terrorists from internationally recognized groups.

 Although there is an element of relief, it did not take long for the senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan in an interview with Arab media to interpret the agreement somewhat differently from the 21-point plan.

a)     * the agreement reached by the parties stipulates the definitive end of the war in Gaza. (not in the agreement)

b)    *  the mediators provided guarantees that “the occupation” (Israel) would not violate the agreement and left the announcement of the end of the war to the American side.

c)    *  there will be no prisoner exchanges unless the end of the war is declared. (not in the agreement)

d)     * the central point in the agreement is the end of the war.

Underlying the focus on getting an agreement. the main issue occupying the internal security channels of Hamas since the announcement of reaching an agreement is how they will get their hands on (revenge) the militia members of Yasser Abu Shabab and their counterparts in Khan Yunis and in the northern part of the Strip. (that cooperated with Israel)

The main thing this teaches us is that Hamas is still very interested in eliminating the alternatives to its rule in Gaza – it wants to continue ruling the Strip and to fortify its control by eliminating public rivals – Yasser Abu Shabab is the symbol of this, as far as they are concerned.

Does this mean a civil war can break out? Watch this space.

Can Trump’s Gaza peace deal last?

By Jonathan Sacerdoti. For full text see https://jonsac.substack.com/p/can-trumps-gaza-peace-deal-last?triedRedirect=true  

Together, Trump and Netanyahu have achieved what few thought possible: an agreement for the release of all hostages held in Gaza and a broad cessation of hostilities, at least for now. The is a big moment, but also an unclear and perilously risky one.

The deal, announced publicly but still potentially in flux, contains both substance and shadow. According to Israeli sources, 20 live hostages are to be released in the initial phase, with expectations that this will occur by Sunday night. Hamas, for its part, has confirmed a framework involving the end of fighting, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza (possibly 70 per cent of the strip), the entry of humanitarian aid, and a prisoner exchange. The guarantor states – Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, and the United States – have reportedly secured assurances against the resumption of war so long as both parties honour the terms.

Yet many details remain ambiguous, and deliberately so. Maps of Israeli withdrawal have been amended, and five crossings are set to open for aid. It’s reported that for every living hostage, as many as 100 convicted terrorists will be freed, among them senior figures sentenced to life for murder. This is a brutal price for Israel. But for many families awaiting a son, a daughter, a child, it is one they have long been willing to pay.

President Isaac Herzog said what millions feel: ‘All the people of Israel stand with the hostages. All the people of Israel stand with the families.’

But not all images comfort. From Gaza, videos immediately emerged of men who appear well-fed and strong, celebrating in the streets. Terror-affiliated media chant genocidal slogans – ‘Khaybar, Khaybar ya Yahud’ – whose message is one of eternal battle and endless death of Jews. Senior Hamas operatives, including Zaher Jabarin, photographed smiling in the Sharm El-Sheikh negotiation rooms, do not smile for peace. Their smile indicates that for them at least survival, and perhaps advantage, has been secured.

This agreement will bring a kind of calm. But calm is not peace. It is not justice. It is not safety. Even yesterday, Hamas-aligned media were promoting videos of their military wing training to abduct IDF soldiers, declaring such operations ‘inevitable.’ Meanwhile, those in Gaza who worked with Israel to protect non-Hamas aligned Gaza residents, such as Yasser Abu Shabab, have become targets of death threats and face possible annihilation in the vacuum of Israeli withdrawal. And what of the ‘innocent civilians’? If Hamas clings on to power it will reinforce it brutally and ruthlessly as it always does. If not, it can be easily replaced by other equally brutal Islamic terrorist factions keen to fill its place.

The Palestinian movement has not earned peace. It must show that it wants more than survival, more than revenge, more than martyrdom. That it wants a future. Until then, no agreement, no photo-op, no negotiated phrase can promise stability, even if the hostages come home for now.

In the days ahead, we will see weeping and celebration, heartbreak and healing. The hostages will come home, and with them, untold stories of horror and survival. We will also see funerals. Some will return dead. Some, not at all, for the Palestinian terrorists are likely to stall and lie at every possible opportunity and ensure the pain is dragged out. It is unlikely they will truly give up every last hostage.

No single agreement can reverse decades of indoctrination and incitement. No single gesture can dismantle the machinery of hatred that has ruled Palestinian political life and ideology for generations. In the days ahead, Israel will witness scenes that test the limits of the human heart. There will be reunions so overwhelming they will shake the nation to its core, and losses so final that no agreement on earth can soften them.

But even as we embrace the living, we must not ignore what else this deal unleashes. Celebrations erupt in Gaza not just for the return of prisoners, but for the return of convicted murderers, some of them architects of massacres, now welcomed home as heroes. It is a decision made under unbearable moral pressure, and one that may come to stain the future with fresh blood.

UN Watch accuse the accuser

 Although Qatar accused Israel of breaching its sovereignty, UN Watch, 

using the words of the Saudi Foreign minister, turns the tables and accuses Qatar