Note to reader: We wanted to give you a trigger warning on what you may read below. We have chosen, as with every night of these briefings, to not share horrific images, however we want to alert you as sensitively as we can to the reports coming out of Israel and Gaza.
What you need to know today:
• 27 Israeli hostages released over the weekend, as well as seven Thai nationals.
• Humanitarian pause to be extended.
• Over 100,000 marched against antisemitism in central London.
• Sir Lindsay Hoyle on his visit to Kibbtz Kfar Aza: “You can still smell in the air death”.
• Two Palestinians executed in the West Bank, accused of spying for Israel.
Temporary Truce extended by two days
Home Secretary James Cleverly has today emphasised that the Jewish community has the “right” to feel safe, and that the Government will act to ensure that they do. He responded to Sir Desmond Swayne MP, who called on the Government to reassure Jews of the Government’s commitment to their safety. The Rt Hon Alec Shelbrooke MP agreed, calling the levels of antisemitism across the U.K. and Western World “horrific” and a testament to the State of Israel’s “right to exist” and “defend itself”.
Minister of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, said that Israel has suffered the “worst terror attack in its history” and called the October 7th massacre a “pogrom”. No one “thinks that Hamas is going to remain in charge of the Gaza Strip in the medium term or anything longer than that”, he said of Hamas’ political future, and that calls for a ceasefire are “fettered” by the fact that Hamas do not want one, but instead seek to “repeat” the “terrible events” of October 7th.
“Not one litre of fuel” has reached Gaza City, CFI Officer Dr Matthew Offord MP quoted from Al Jazeera, despite IDF reports that fuel has been entering the Strip. Offord said that this was “likely” due to misappropriation by Hamas, an issue echoed by CFI Parliamentary Chair (Commons) Rt Hon Stephen Crabb MP, who condemned Hamas’ “theft” of an “industrial scale”.
CFI Parliamentary Vice Chair Andrew Percy MP noted that “thousands of Gazan civilians streamed” into Israeli communities following the “butchery” of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) on October 7th. He said that “Hamas are responsible” for “every death that occurs”, the Palestinian Authority (PA) “whose textbooks preach hate against Jews” and “schools were closed in a day of celebration after October 7th”.
Hamas’ use of “human shields”, evidenced again by the discovery of a “tunnel from the Shifa Hospital to residential property”, was condemned by Steve Double MP – who also called for the Government to “continue to support Israel in its fight to eradicate Hamas from the region”. The Rt Hon Tobias Ellwood MP asked if now was the time to call for “demilitarisation” in Gaza “for the long term”.
CFI Officer Bob Blackman CBE MP also raised concerns that “Palestinian prisoners are being released into the West Bank” whilst “Hamas were getting the credit”. He cited new Palestinian polling figures, that “75%” of Palestinians support the Hamas “atrocities” of October 7th, and a further “85%” reject “coexistence” with the State of Israel – and concluded there is a “risk” that Hamas could both “dominate” Gaza and the West Bank.
Greg Smith MP said that “we must continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel”, as it is forced to exchange “Palestinian prisoners held for terror offences, including bombing and stabbing attacks” for innocent civilians held hostage by the terror group Hamas. “History shows us that previous security prisoners released by Israel have gone on to commit further terror offences”, he said, which “should be of concern to the whole world”.
Speaker of the House visits Kfar Aza
Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, toured Kibbutz Kfar Aza today – one of the hardest hit kibbutz of Hamas’ October 7th massacre.
“Unless you witness and you come to see what’s happened, you cannot imagine the atrocity that took place”, Hoyle said. “To witness the way that its gone from house to house, complete destruction, annihilation of innocent people”.
Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, thanked Sir Lindsay for visiting Israel.
27 Israeli hostages released over weekend, 7 Thai nationals
The third group of freed captives were greeted by scenes of jubilation in Israel through the weekend, over 50 days after their kidnapping by Hamas.
14 Israelis and 3 Thai nationals were released from Gaza on Sunday, following the release of 13 Israelis and 4 Thai nationals the day prior – leaving approximately 200 hostages remaining in the Strip.
Those freed include American-Israeli, four-year-old Avigail Idan, whose mother was killed in front of her on October 7th by Hamas terrorists. Her father too, was shot dead after shielding Avigail from bullets with his own body. After fleeing to a neighbour’s house, she was then taken hostage with those inside. One of the Israelis, an Israeli-Russian dual national, was released after reported intervention by Russian President Vladimir Putin, whilst the Thai citizens were released as part of a separate deal struck between Hamas and Bangkok.
Irish-Israeli Emily Hand, whose father gave an emotional interview shortly after her brutal abduction, was freed over the weekend. The Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that Emily had been “lost” and “found”, prompting widespread criticism on social media. The Israeli Foreign Minister said that she was not lost but “kidnapped by a terror organisation worse than ISIS that murdered her stepmother”.
Crowds of hundreds cheered the vans delivering the hostages on Sunday, as it made its way from Gaza to Hatzerim Airbase, where the victims could receive medical examination and reunite with their families.
In return for the hostages released on Saturday, Israel released 29 Palestinian security prisoners, including those involved in attempted or thwarted terror attacks. 39 additional security prisoners were released on Sunday, including Israa Jaabis who was convicted of attempting a 2015 suicide bombing near Jerusalem.
Temporary truce extended by two more days
Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend the four-day truce in Gaza for two more days “under the same conditions”. The announcement came through Qatar, which has mediated between the conflictual parties. Israel had previously agreed to extend a day’s pause for every 10 Israeli hostages freed.
100,000 march in London against antisemitism
One of the largest marches against antisetmisim in British living memory took place on Sunday, with 100,000 in attendance, including the Minister for Security, Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MP MBE, the Minister for Education Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP and the Minister for Immigration Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP.
“At stake are not just Jewish lives, and the Jewish way of life – but the British way of life”, said the Minister for Immigration of modern antisemitism. Tugendhat agreed that “hatred of Jews is the first sign that you are on a step to a worse future”, whilst the Minister for Education declared that the Government wont allow “Jewish stalls, Jewish societies” to be “take[n] down” on university campuses. “Every international student that breaks the law” will be “thrown out of the country”, Halfon pledged.
The Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth, Ephraim Mirvis, said that, “our call is the United Kingdom must be united against antisemitism”. Antisemitism has surged across the UK by 500 percent in the month following the October 7th massacres committed by Hamas.
Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) who organised the march, said that around 105,000 were in attendance. Israeli flags were complimented by placards reading “Never Again Is Now”, “I Am Allowed to Be Jewish And Proud” and “Zero Tolerance for Antisemites”.
Fatah: October 7th was a “defensive war”
Secretary General of Fatah’s Central Committee has justified Hamas’ October 7th massacres as a “defensive war” against Israel on Sunday, and that the terror group is part of the Palestinian “political and social fabric”.
Rajoub made the comments on Sunday, where he also blamed Israel for the atrocities carried out by Hamas, due to “aggression on all the Palestinian lands”. He suggested that the Abraham Accords had been “thwarted” and called Hamas’ participation in the Palestinian political process “important”.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has made clear its view that “Hamas can have no future in Gaza”.
The Fatah Minister’s comments follow the Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry’s assertion that Israel had fabricated evidence of October 7th.
Two men executed in West Bank for alleged spying
Two men, Hamza Mubarak, 31, and Azam Juabra, 29, were shot, trampled and hanged from an electrical tower as crowds looked on, cheering and filming in the West Bank town of Tulkarem on Friday night. They were accused of providing Israel information for a targeted IDF raid that killed six Palestinians during clashes with terror cells in Tulkarem earlier this month.
The terror branch of the Palestinian Authority’s governing party – the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, stated that “we did not wrong them, but they wronged themselves”.
A confession video has reportedly surfaced online describing the two men’s interactions with Israel, and its payments of thousands of dollars to them both. The family of one of the victims said that their relative was a “malicious finger that we have cut off without regret” and affirmed their own “complete innocence”.
Over 950 individuals associated with Hamas have been arrested since October 7th, according to Times of Israel.
