In Tel Aviv, a chair is left in front of posters with photographs of hostages kidnapped in the deadly Oct. 7 attack. Photo: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Israeli intelligence agencies have brought in a group of new recruits from the Gaza Strip to help them find the remaining hostages.
Intelligence sources told the Telegraph that since the war began on October 7, it has become much easier to recruit Gazans to work for Israel, offering money, immunity from prosecution, or physical safety.
At the same time, elite Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units are finding it easier to infiltrate the Gaza Strip undetected, and one source told The Telegraph that a huge team of specialists trained to blend into the Palestinian community is now operating through key locations in the area. .
About 130 hostages are believed to still be held in the Gaza Strip, although the total could be significantly lower amid claims that dozens of hostages have died or been killed during the conflict. Two of the remaining captives are British citizens, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Emily Damari, 27.
Hopes grew on Sunday of a deal brokered by Egypt to free the remaining hostages. Antony Blinken will attend the World Economic Forum in Riyadh on Monday to try to push through the deal.
Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, who will also attend, said: “Achieving an immediate pause in Gaza, releasing hostages and ensuring help reaches those who need it most remains a top priority and we will continue to work with key partners in the region so that This is the end.»
British citizen Emily Damari was captured along with friends from the area around Kibbutz Kfar -Aza October 7 < img src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/c2358e77f4deb62bbba7b87a56f1f7a9.jpg" />British citizen Nadav Popplewell, 51, was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists Photo: Ayelet Swaticki
According to Axios, Israel has offered to «restore sustainable calm» to Hamas, the first time officials have offered to end the war in seven months. Hamas is due to submit its response to the proposals, which include the right of return for Palestinians displaced from their homes in northern Gaza, on Monday.
However, Benjamin Netanyahu's government is prepared for the negotiations to fail. , as they have done many times before, and is preparing forces to invade the southern city of Rafah in the coming weeks.
Hamas leadership and remaining hostages are reported to be in the city, where more than a million citizens have taken refuge to avoid Israeli bombings.
Intelligence operators are already working to locate hostages and prepare for potential rescue operations.
“Gaza is much easier to get to than before October 7, when we had limited access to Gaza and didn't have much opportunity to source or recruit there,” one intelligence source told The Telegraph.< /p>
“Now the situation is completely different, because we are here and have a lot to offer to anyone we want to recruit. First of all, his life. Secondly, some kind of immunity, and thirdly, this is money and everything else. So it's much easier to access sources and recruit people now than it used to be. It's a completely different ball game.»
Palestinians living in the Jabaliya refugee camp, north of Gaza City, do their daily shopping at a market built between buildings destroyed by Israeli attacks. Photo: Omar El-Kattaa/Anadolu via Getty Images
Prompted by the invasion of thousands of Hamas terrorists. Israel's retaliatory bombings killed more than 33,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas. The Israeli military says at least 14,000 terrorists out of more than 35,000 Hamas militias have been killed.
“People in the Gaza Strip are confused, desperate and afraid, and these factors are very important. When you recruit new staff, you're always looking for weaknesses, and there are a lot of them right now,” a second security source told The Telegraph.
“Nothing has happened since November in terms of formal negotiations, so we have to be on the spot and find the hostages yourself and do everything possible to destroy Hamas,” the source added.
Two hostages, Fernando Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, were rescued by the IDF in a daring raid in Rafah earlier this year.
Meanwhile, on Sunday the US was reportedly involved in diplomatic efforts to prevent the International Criminal Court did not issue an arrest warrant for Mr. Netanyahu in connection with his Israeli genocide case.
The arrest warrant in the case brought by South Africa will make it virtually impossible for the Israeli Prime Minister to travel abroad and will have huge diplomatic consequences for Israel on the world stage.
Ben Caspit, an Israeli analyst and biographer of the prime minister, wrote on Sunday that Netanyahu is “scared and unusually tense” at the prospect of an arrest warrant being issued for him and other Israelis by a UN tribunal in The Hague. He said Netanyahu had made a «marathon» of calls to the US, particularly President Joe Biden, to prevent his arrest.
There is speculation that Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, could issue arrest warrants this week for Mr Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, the defense minister, and Herzi Halevi, the IDF chief of staff. Neither the United States nor Israel are among the 124 countries that have signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Mr Netanyahu, who is under significant pressure from the US not to invade Rafah, knows that an international arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court in The Hague, as opposed to the International Court of Justice, is the defining event that could make him «persecuted man for the rest of his life,” Mr. Caspit wrote.
“He is working hard to stop this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. «I would not completely rule out the possibility that significant flexibility in Israel's position on the abduction issue, including signs of agreement to end the war (which the Prime Minister's Office denies), is part of this development,» he said.
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