US seeks delay of Israeli ground incursion for more time for hostage talks | CNN Politics
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The Biden administration has pressed Israel to delay its imminent invasion of Gaza to allow for the release of more hostages held by Hamas and for aid to reach Gaza, according to two sources briefed on the discussions.

The Biden administration has pressed Israel to delay its imminent invasion of Gaza to allow for the release of more hostages held by Hamas and for aid to reach Gaza, according to two sources briefed on the discussions.

The release of two Americans held by Hamas Friday signaled that more of roughly 200 people believed to be kidnapped by the militant group may be freed after they were taken during the group’s deadly attacks launched against Israel two week ago.

“The [administration] pressed Israeli leadership to delay because of progress on the hostage front,” and the need to get trucks of aid into Gaza, one person familiar with the discussions said.

  • Riccosuave@lemmy.worldEnglish
    71·
    1 year ago

    I agree, but it’s not primarily about the killing. As another user said to me, when you view this through the political lense of never letting a good crisis go to waste it becomes much more clear how and why the Israeli government and Hamas are using this hostage situation as pawns on the chess board.

    Israel knows that civilian hostages, in the early stages of the public discourse, tilts the justification for the use of violence broadly in their favor. At first their rhetorical campaign was focused exclusively on “we must save the hostages at all costs”, and you can see in short order they have abandoned that facade because of the external pressure that was coming from the United States to actually make them follow through on that position by requesting more time for negotiations while simultaneously accomplishing the goal of tamping down public support for a full scale Israeli invasion.

    Additionally, Hamas has intelligently chosen to release hostages with the largest impact on the national news coverage:

    • All women

    • A mother/daughter combo (who were importantly also US citizens)

    • Elderly women who by their own admission were treated mostly humanely

    They know precisely what they are doing to destroy the optical illusion that the Israeli government was trying to use to justify their ground incursion, as well as signaling to the United States that their fight is not with us.

    There is no more pretense that Israel cares about saving these hostages because they never did. It was always about using swift military superiority backed by the immediate public sentiment to level Gaza, and inch one step closer to eradicating the little remaining remnants of Palestinian territory.