Important Takeaways:
- Hamas has removed more than 3,400 previously reported deaths from its official casualty figures, including 1,080 alleged child fatalities, according to new research that asserts the numbers were knowingly falsified.
- On Tuesday, The Telegraph reported that a March update from the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health drastically revised down its earlier tallies of war dead. According to Honest Reporting’s Salo Aizenberg, the updated fatality list dropped thousands of names that had been publicly listed in PDFs released in August and October of 2024.
- “These ‘deaths’ never happened,” he stated. “The numbers were falsified – again.”
- A December report by the Henry Jackson Society concluded that Hamas had likely inflated civilian deaths to shape international perception and paint Israel as intentionally targeting non-combatants. The recent deletions, researcher Andrew Fox told The Telegraph, appear to be an effort by Hamas to salvage credibility amid intensifying challenges to its data.
- “We knew there were rafts of errors in their reporting,” Fox said. “The lists are so unreliable that the world’s media shouldn’t be quoting them as reliable.”
- Fox, a former British paratrooper, noted that Gaza’s death reports are often built on crowd-sourced entries submitted via a public Google form, containing names and ID numbers without proper verification. Fox and Aizenberg’s team cross-referenced publicly released Hamas PDFs by converting them to Excel format to track discrepancies and identify names quietly dropped.
- Hamas’s own data undermines its narrative, Fox said. Although the group has claimed that women and children comprise around 70 percent of the dead, Fox noted that 72 percent of deaths among those aged 13 to 55 are male — the typical demographic for Hamas fighters.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel’s defense minister said on Friday he has instructed the military to “seize more ground” in Gaza and threatened to annex part of the territory unless Hamas releases the remaining hostages it holds.
- “I ordered [the army] to seize more territory in Gaza,” Katz said. “The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel.”
- Katz also threatened “to expand buffer zones around Gaza to protect Israeli civilian population areas and soldiers by implementing a permanent Israeli occupation of the area,” should Hamas not comply.
- He said the army “will intensify the fight with aerial, naval and ground shelling as well as by expanding the ground operation”, which he said would include implementing Donald Trump’s proposal to turn Gaza into a resort after the relocation of its Palestinian inhabitants to other Arab countries.
- The Trump administration reiterated this week its support for Israel. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, “The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay.”
- Netanyahu said that the strikes were “only the beginning” and that future negotiations with Hamas “will take place only under fire”.
- “Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you – and them – this is only the beginning,” the Israeli prime minister said in a video statement.
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Important Takeaways:
- Sharabi, who was released from captivity on February 8, told members of the security council that, “Hamas eats like kings while hostages starve,” at a special session on the issue of the hostages.
- “I saw Hamas terrorists carrying boxes with the UN and UNWRA emblems on them into the tunnels, dozens and dozens of boxes, paid for by your government,” Sharabi continued.
- “They would eat many meals a day from the UN aid in front of us, and we never received any of it,” Sharabi said.
- According to Sharabi, hostages received “one bath a month” with a bucket of cold water, were fed “a piece of pita, maybe a sip of tea,” at best, and endured brutal beatings and ridicule at the hands of their captors.
- He described the psychological and physical torture he endured in captivity, including being held “50 meters underground” in “chains so tight they ripped my skin.”
- Sharabi told the Security Council that just before his release, Hamas terrorists showed him a picture of his older brother, Yossi, laughing as they told him that he had been killed in captivity. “It was like they brought a massive hammer down on me,” said Sharabi.
- Yossi’s body is still being held by Hamas in Gaza.
- “Where was the UN? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world?” Sharabi asked. “Every day [Hamas] told us: The world has abandoned you, no one is coming.”
- Sharabi described the moment he discovered, after returning to Israel in February, that his wife Lianne and their daughters, Noiya, 16, and Yahel 13, had been murdered by Palestinian terrorists on October 7, 2023, in their home’s safe room at Kibbutz Be’eri.
- “I am not a diplomat. I am a survivor,” he told the UN officials, after the gruesome account.
- “If you stand for humanity, prove it,” he concluded. “Bring them all home.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Hamas has called for “mass demonstrations and a global siege on Israeli and American embassies around the globe,” according to Iran’s state media Press TV. The report on March 18 said this was “in response to the Israeli regime’s resuming its US-backed war of genocide against the Palestinian territory.”
- Hamas has faced renewed Israeli airstrikes in the last two days. It has not been able to carry out much of a response so far. It doesn’t appear to have much of a rocket arsenal left. Its lack of response could reflect its lack of an arsenal in Gaza, or it could mean it is concerned about provoking further Israeli action. Hamas likely finds it easier to encourage attacks on Israel and the US abroad. It can then deny responsibility for these attacks.
- Iran’s state media IRNA said that in New York, “thousands of people have taken to the streets of Manhattan, New York City, protesting against the renewed Israeli air campaign against Gaza and the United States’ support for it.” This appears to be part of the Hamas global campaign. “Protesters on Tuesday marched through Times Square while holding up signs and chanting slogans against the war and in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” IRNA claimed.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Israeli security cabinet convened an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss a culmination of alerts over the past few weeks that indicate that Hamas has been making preparations for another invasion into Israeli territory, N12 reported.
- Separately, Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated these concerns in a meeting with the Otef Israel Forum, a group primarily composed of residents from the Gaza border region, on Tuesday morning
- “There are constant preparations being made by Hamas for an invasion [into Israel], similar to October 7,” Katz said in the meeting.
- Hamas published a statement on Tuesday saying that Israel’s allegations regarding Hamas’s preparations to launch an attack on IDF forces “are baseless and merely flimsy pretexts to justify its return to war and escalation of its bloody aggression.”
- Israel, however, has publicly said that the ongoing strikes in Gaza are not related to fears of an impending attack but are instead in response to Hamas’s unwillingness to release the hostages and refusal to advance talks.
- Eisenkot claimed that Hamas currently has over 25,000 armed terrorists, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad has over 5,000, adding that the government has not advanced the war’s objectives.
- Hamas is reportedly increasing recruitment drives in Gaza and training the new recruits for combat against the IDF. In January, sources told the Jerusalem Post that Hamas is making a substantial comeback by recruiting new forces, with an increase of about 12,000 at the time.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hamas has warned that Israel’s return to war has imposed a ‘death sentence’ on the remaining hostages held captive in Gaza.
- Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza overnight, ending the fragile two-month ceasefire as Benjamin Netanyahu vows to use more force to free hostages held by Hamas.
- At least 413 Palestinians were killed in the strikes, including Hamas prime minister Issam al-Da’alis, the terror group has claimed. At least four other Hamas officials were reportedly killed in Israel’s attack.
- Medical facilities in the region are ‘overwhelmed’ as hundreds of injured people seek care.
- The Israeli military said it hit dozens of targets overnight and warned the attacks would continue for as long as necessary and extend beyond airstrikes, raising the prospect that Israeli ground troops could resume fighting.
- Netanyahu has ordered Israeli forces to take ‘strong action’ against Hamas and threatened terror chiefs with ‘increasing military strength’.
- His office accused Hamas of rejecting ceasefire proposals and ‘repeated refusal’ to release the remaining hostages in Gaza. The terror group still holds 59 of the 250 or so hostages seized in its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
- Hamas has accused Israel of breaching the terms of the ceasefire agreement and claimed to be ‘working with mediators’ to stop the bombardment. The terror group also blamed what it described as ‘unlimited’ United States for giving the ‘green light’ for the attack and alleged America ‘bears full responsibility’ for the Gaza ‘massacre’.
- Netanyahu’s office said the operation was ordered after ‘Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators’.
- ‘Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,’ the statement said.
- ‘We will not stop fighting as long as the hostages are not returned home and all our war aims are not achieved,’ Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
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Important Takeaways:
- The U.S. military pounded Houthi targets over the weekend and warned Hamas of a similar fate if they don’t agree to a hostage deal.
- Dozens of U.S airstrikes and missile strikes on Houthi strongholds in Yemen left at least 31 people dead, and some of them may have been Houthi leaders.
- The attacks came after the Houthis warned they were about to resume hitting ships in the Red Sea and nearby waters. Earlier attacks by the Houthis since the start of the war in Gaza have disrupted global shipping costing billions of dollars.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News on Sunday, “Four months ago when we sent a ship through, it was shot at 17 times. Ships haven’t been able to go through for over a year without being shot at. Freedom of navigation is basic. It’s a core national interest.”
- President Donald Trump declared on Truth Social, “No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the waterways of the world.”
- The president also warned Iran to stop backing the Houthis, posting, “Beware, because America will hold you fully accountable and we won’t be nice about it!” Iranian leaders repeated their denial that they were assisting the Houthis.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims America is doing the world a favor.
- He stated on CBS Face the Nation, “The strike in Yemen is about their ability to – the ability of the Houthis – to strike global shipping and attack the U.S. Navy, and their willingness to do it. 174 times against the U.S. Navy, some 145 times against global shipping. That’s what this strike is about.”
- Hegseth [said] “We’re pounding them militarily,” he said, and noted, “By the way, to the Houthis: this isn’t a one-night thing. This will continue until you say, ‘We’re done shooting at ships. We’re done shooting at assets.'”
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Important Takeaways:
- The Hamas terror group on Thursday dismissed President Donald Trump’s latest threat and refused to release more Israeli hostages without a permanent ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip.
- Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said the “best path to free the remaining Israeli hostages” is through negotiations on a second phase of the ceasefire agreement.
- Hamas’ response comes after Trump met with eight former hostages in Washington and posted what he called a “last warning” to Hamas on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday.
- “‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye – You can choose,” the president’s post began. “Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you.”
- Trump added that he is “sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job,” and that “not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.
- “Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages,” the president wrote. “If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!”
- Hamas is believed to still have 24 living hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that led to the ongoing war. It is also holding the bodies of 34 others who were either killed in the initial attack or in captivity, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in the 2014 war.
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Important Takeaways:
- US special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler has been holding direct talks with Hamas officials in Qatar on the possibility of releasing hostages, including Americans, in Gaza, a source familiar with the details confirmed to The Jerusalem Post.
- Israel has been updated on these talks.
- Bohler met with Hamas “because his role allows it,” the source told the Post.
- “The talks focused on releasing American hostages – but also all hostages. The message to Hamas: Show goodwill – to enable discussions about the second phase as well.”
- On Tuesday, officials estimated that if no agreement is reached between Israel and Hamas, Israel would return to fighting in Gaza in about a week and a half.
- “Hamas is currently rejecting [US Middle East envoy Steve] Witkoff’s proposal, so it is very difficult to make progress,” one official said.
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Important Takeaways:
- The White House is supporting the Israeli government’s decision to block aid to Gaza until Hamas leaders agree to a ceasefire extension, according to a newly-released statement.
- In a statement obtained by Fox News on Sunday, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said that Israel has “negotiated in good faith since the beginning of this administration to ensure the release of hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists.”
- “We will support their decision on next steps given Hamas has indicated it’s no longer interested in a negotiated ceasefire,” Hughes added.
- Earlier on Sunday, Israeli officials announced that they are stopping the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip and warned Hamas it would face “additional consequences” if it does not accept a new proposal for an extended ceasefire.
- “With the conclusion of the 1st stage of the hostages deal and in light of Hamas’ refusal to accept the [U.S. Mideast envoy Steve] Witkoff framework for the continuation of the talks, to which Israel agreed, PM Netanyahu decided: as of this morning, entry of all goods & supplies to the Gaza Strip be halted,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on X.
- “Israel will not allow a ceasefire without a release of our hostages. If Hamas persists in its refusal, there will be additional consequences,” the post added.
- An Israeli official said the decision to suspend aid was made in coordination with the Trump administration.
- Israeli officials said earlier on Sunday that they support a proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire through Ramadan and Passover, or April 20. They said the proposal came from the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
- Under that deal, Hamas would release half the hostages on the first day and the remainder when an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire, according to Netanyahu’s office.
- In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israel also pulled back forces from most of Gaza and allowed a surge of humanitarian aid to enter the region.
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