Hamas issues order to kill hostages if Israeli military attempts rescue, as latest cease-fire talks fail: sources
The terror group has reportedly reinstated its previously abandoned kill order on its captives if Israeli forces or anyone else closes in an attempt to retrieve the 50 remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, according to the Times of Israel.
That policy had been scrapped after a short-lived cease-fire was reached in January, Hamas sources told the London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat. Hamas also reportedly boasted that an Israeli military operation to free the hostages would fail, the outlet reported.
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Of the 50 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, about 20 are still believed to be alive.
The plans come as the US walked away from the latest cease-fire talks in Qatar on Thursday, before slamming the terror group for showing no real interest in striking a deal with Israel.
4 Netanyahu said he would consider 'alternative options' to bring the hostages home after talks broke down.
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President Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said 'alternative options' to bring the hostages home would now have to be considered, after the latest round of negotiations broke down.
His comments were echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said 'together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home'
Neither the US or Israel have offered insight into what those alternative options might include.
But Trump said he would approve of Israel's military finishing off Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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'Hamas didn't really want to make a deal,' Trump told reporters Friday as he departed the White House for a trip to Scotland.
'I think they want to die.'
4 The war in Gaza has been raging for almost two years.
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The terror group responded by calling Trump's comments 'surprising' on Saturday.
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4 Thousands rallied in Tel Aviv calling for the release of all remaining hostages.
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'Trump's remarks are particularly surprising, especially as they come at a time when progress had been made on some of the negotiation files,' a Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.
Meanwhile, thousands of protestors in Tel Aviv marched to the US embassy on Saturday night, for the second week in a row, calling for a truce that releases the remaining hostages and puts an end to the war in Gaza.
Hamas captured 251 hostages during the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. Of those, 148 were released following negotiations — 140 alive, eight dead.
4 Protestors in Tel Aviv are urging for a cease-fire deal.
AP
The Israeli military has only been able to rescue eight hostages alive.
'Every time the talks stop, every time a deal blows up, those who pay the price are the hostages,' Or Levy, who was released from Hamas captivity in February, told the crowd.
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'I can tell you what it's like to live 50 meters underground, without daylight, without sky, just constant fear that everything will end … what they're still going through there, can't really be understood.'
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