Hamas is reportedly telling other Palestinian terrorist groups to identify all Israeli hostages in their hands, in the first sign of real movement toward a hostage deal in months.
President-elect Donald Trump warned earlier this month that there will be “ALL HELL TO PAY” if Hamas does not release the remaining 100 Israeli hostages, including several Americans. That threat, accompanied by behind-the-scenes diplomacy, seems to have focused minds in the region.
The Times of Israel reported Sunday:
Sources within various Palestinian terror groups in Gaza say that Hamas has told them to compile information on the hostages they hold in preparation for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Israel.
Hamas has told factions including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front and the Popular Resistance Committees to prepare information such as whether their hostages are alive or dead, the sources tell AFP [Agence France-Presse].
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Qatar’s prime minister said yesterday that there was renewed “momentum” for a ceasefire and hostage release deal following the election of Donald Trump in the United States.
Trump’s chosen envoys have already been shuttling back-and-forth between Israel and Qatar, even urging the Qataris to bring Hamas representatives back to Doha temporarily from Turkey to negotiate a hostage deal. President-elect Trump is already acting as the sitting president in that respect, conducting his own foreign policy.
In 2016, similar diplomacy by the incoming Trump administration to dampen United Nations moves against Israel were used by the outgoing Obama administration as a pretext to investigate National Security Advisor nominee Michael Flynn for violating the Logan Act, which prevents private citizens from conducting diplomacy on behalf of the United States.
This time, there appear to be no such interventions, given the Biden-Harris interest in a hostage deal, though there could still be political fallout.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
