ISRAEL - Hamas Wants Gaza Ceasefire to Proceed
The Palestinian militant group Hamas signaled that a crisis threatening to unravel the Gaza ceasefire deal could be avoided despite uncertainty over the number of hostages due to be released and disagreements over aid supplies.
Hamas said it did not want the deal to collapse, though it rejected what it called the “language of threats and intimidation” from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump. They have said the ceasefire should be canceled if the hostages are not released.
“Accordingly, Hamas reaffirms its commitment to implementing the agreement as signed, including the exchange of prisoners according to the specified timeline,” Hamas said in a statement.
The standoff between Israel and Hamas has threatened to reignite their conflict, which has devastated Gaza and taken the Middle East to the brink of a wider regional war.
International aid officials confirmed that aid was coming in despite considerable logistical problems, though they cautioned that far more was needed.
“We have seen improvement in some ways, but certainly, the response is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of so many people who face so much destruction and loss,” said Shaina Low, an official from the Norwegian Refugee Council based in the Jordanian capital Amman.
The war in Gaza erupted after a Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed at least 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and saw more than 250 taken as hostages.
-www.reuters.com, 13 February 2025
Arno's Commentary
What is noteworthy to highlight are the definitions such as “the Palestinian militant group Hamas.” These cold-blooded murderers, designated by many nations as a terrorist organization, are not identified as such; rather, the “militant group Hamas.”
A headline on Wikipedia reads, “Israel-Palestinian Prisoner Exchange.” No mention is made of the fact that many of these Palestinian prisoners committed capital crimes, stood before a court of law, and were condemned to life in prison.
Reuters totally ignores the clearly documented genocidal intention of the Hamas murderers, and puts them on equal footing with the only country in the Middle East where a functioning democracy is practiced in a civilized manner, with the words “exchange of prisoners.” Israeli hostages—women, children, and even infants—are placed on equal footing with terrorists.
Some 3,000 years ago, David uttered these words about Israel’s enemies: “For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause … And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love” (Psalm 109:2-3, 5).
Here we must add, the writers of Britain’s Reuters are not the exception but the norm. Similar statements expressing moral equivalency between Israeli civilians and bloodthirsty Hamas terrorists can be read in news sources globally.
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
