Negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages appears to have been stalled as terrorist group Hamas refuses to hand over the names of captives who are still alive, the news website Axios reported Friday. More than one hundred Israeli hostages, including women and children, are believed to have been in terrorist captivity for nearly five months.

Israel told Arab negotiators that it “will not hold another round of talks until Hamas presents a list of the hostages who are alive,” the Axios article added. In recent weeks, Israeli negotiators have been holding a fresh round of talks with their counterparts from Qatar and Egypt to secure the release of the hostages. The list of alive hostages in terrorist captivity is vital for any negotiations since Hamas is demanding the release of thousands of terrorists in return.

Writing for Axios, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid disclosed:

Qatari and Egyptian officials spoke to Israeli officials in the last 24 hours and proposed holding another round of talks in Cairo next week. A senior Israeli official said that Israel refused the offer and clarified that until it receives answers from Hamas, it will be impossible to move forward in the negotiations.

“There is no point in starting another round of talks until we receive the lists of which of the hostages are alive and until Hamas gives its answer regarding the ‘ratio’ that defines how many prisoners will be released for each hostage,” an Israeli official said.

The revelation comes days after President Joe Biden declared that a ceasefire between Israel and terrorist group Hamas might be reached ‘by Monday.’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, overseeing the talks, was taken by surprise by Biden’s bold claim, ABC News reported.

Biden has since changed his tune, claiming that a deal was not yet in sight. He was still “hoping” for a ceasefire in Gaza ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan expected to begin on March 10, media reports on Friday suggest. “I’m hoping so, we’re still working real hard on it. We’re not there yet,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

With Hamas stalling talks, the Israeli military is preparing to take Rafah, the southernmost terrorist stronghold in Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected Hamas’s “delusional” demands calling for a complete military withdrawal from Gaza and the release of hundreds of terrorists and murderers from Israeli prisons in exchange for only some of the hostages. Israeli armed forces were merely weeks away from “total victory” in terrorist-infested Gaza, the prime minister reiterated.

The Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported Friday:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a military operation into Rafah, on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, would put Israel within weeks of “total victory” over Hamas whose October 7 atrocities triggered the war.

He dismissed the Hamas demand that Israel withdraw the troops from Gaza as “delusional.”

Biden wants U.S. military to airdrop ‘aid’ to Gaza

With Hamas refusing to free the hostages and using them and Palestinian civilians are human shields against the advancing IDF troops, Biden wants the U.S. military to airdrop humanitarian supplies to Gaza.

It is worth noting that much of the present misery in Gaza is created by, if not deliberately inflicted by, Hamas. The terrorist group is hoarding food and fuel. “Hamas has spent years stockpiling desperately needed fuel, food and medicine, as well as ammo and weapons, in the miles of tunnels it has carved out under Gaza,” The Wall Street Journal noted late October.

Hamas terrorist fighters regulate the distribution of outside aid entering Gaza and hijack substantial part of the deliveries to shore up their supplies, leaving ordinary Gazans to gather the crumbs. “Videos appear to show trucks carrying crucial supplies seized by Hamas, fallen goods taken by civilians,” The Times of Israel reported mid-December, 2023, citing footage released by the IDF (embedded below). “In the videos, masked and armed men can be seen sitting on top of the humanitarian supplies — usually food, water, medicine and fuel — as the trucks drive deeper into the Strip.”

תיעוד: תושבי עזה בוזזים משאיות סיוע של איחוד האמירויות שהגיעו לרצועה דרך מעבר רפיח@gal_sade @kaisos1987 (צילום: AP) pic.twitter.com/Fhr8TZoVat

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 17, 2023

Reuters reported Biden’s plan:

U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Friday plans to carry out a first military airdrop of food and supplies into Gaza, a day after the deaths of Palestinians queuing for aid threw a spotlight on an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the crowded coastal enclave.

Biden said the U.S. airdrop would take place in the coming days but offered no further specifics. Other countries, including Jordan and France, have already carried out airdrops of aid into Gaza.

UK-owned cargo ship attacked by Houthi terrorists sinks, causes ecological disaster in the Red Sea

British-owned cargo ship, hit by a Houthi ballistic missile last month, has sunk in the Red Sea. The sinking of the ship released thousands of tons of fertilizer and fuel, unleashing a major ecological disaster in one of world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Iran-backed Yemen’s Houthi terrorist group intensified attacks on Israeli and Western-owned commercial ships in the Red Sea region since mid-November in a bid to open a second front against Israel following the October 7 terror attacks.

Otherwise paranoid climate change agitators have largely remained silent over Houthis’ ongoing war on maritime ecology. ‘Climate celebrity’ Greta Thunberg and many of her allies appear to have thrown their support behind Hamas terrorists. In November, Thunberg was filmed screaming “crush Zionism” at an anti-Israel rally in Sweden.

Reuters reported:

The Rubymar cargo ship, attacked last month, has sunk in the southern Red Sea, Yemen’s internationally recognised government said in a statement on Saturday.

If verified, it would be the first vessel lost since Houthi militants began targeting commercial shipping in November.

The government statement said the ship sunk on Friday night and warned of an “environmental catastrophe”.

The ship was carrying more than 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it came under attack, the U.S. military’s Central Command previously said. (…)

The U.S. military previously said the attack had significantly damaged the freighter and caused an 18-mile (29-km) oil slick.

BREAKING:

The British-owned bulk carrier Rubymar has now sunk after it was hit by Houthi anti-ship missile 2 weeks ago.

It’s the first ship to be sunk by the Houthis.

It was carrying more than 41 000 tons of fertilizer. Major ecologic disaster.

Greta? pic.twitter.com/RAFK6kDHKP

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 2, 2024

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