U.S. Citizen Keith Siegel to Be Freed from Gaza; Bibas Father, Too

U.S. citizen Keith Siegel, 65, is to be freed from Gaza on Saturday, after being held in captivity by Hamas terrorists for nearly 500 days.

Siegel’s release was announced Friday, after Hamas handed over the list of hostages that was expected to be freed in the next group, as part of the release of 33 hostages in the first phase of a ceasefire deal with Israel. Only 18 of those to be released are still alive, however, and Hamas did not reveal precisely which ones. Ten living Israeli hostages have been freed thus far, including nine women (both civilians and soldiers), and one elderly man, plus five Thai workers.

The other two hostages to be released are Israelis Ofer Calderon, 54, and Yarden Bibas, 35. Bibas is the husband of fellow hostage Shiri Bibas, and the father of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, two children who were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, and who are the last remaining children in captivity. Their fate is still unclear.


https://www.breitbart.com/midd...tm_campaign=20250131

I am a little surprised that President Trump didn't threaten to get involved over any American hostages to be released, or else. But I am sure there's a master plan.

The freed British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari spoke to Keir Starmer on Friday and told the prime minister Hamas held her in facilities belonging to the UN refugee agency Unrwa, her mother, Mandy, has said.

Damari, 28, who was released 12 days ago, after more than 15 months in captivity in Gaza, with two fingers missing, also told Starmer that Hamas had denied her access to medical treatment after shooting her twice.

Unrwa said claims that hostages had been held in its premises were “very serious”.

Its spokesperson Juliette Touma told the BBC the UN agency, which was set up to support the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees, and has brought in about 60% of the food aid that has reached Gaza since the war began, did not have access to several of its facilities for many months.

“The vast majority of our buildings were turned into shelter when the war started. There was also very, very little supplies and assistance that the agency could give them.”

She added: “We’ve been calling for the release of hostages for months on end … These claims that hostages have been held in Unrwa premises, even if they were vacated, are absolutely serious.

“We’ve repeatedly called for independent investigations into these claims, including the misuse and disregard of Unrwa premises by Palestinian armed groups. That also includes Hamas.”

An Israeli law banning the activities of Unrwa in Israel came into force on Thursday and international staff were forced to leave, a decision the agency predicted would “sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition” and critics say will jeopardise urgent humanitarian aid efforts in the region.

The Israeli government has accused Unrwa, which enjoys widespread international support and has more than 30,000 staff, of employing 190 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, and 12 people who took part in the 7 October 2023 attacks. The agency fired nine employees after an investigation but denied knowingly aiding armed groups.

Damari and her mother gave the prime minister an update on Damari’s condition on Friday, and the conditions she lived under while she was held hostage, and then urged Starmer to ensure the Red Cross has access to people still being held captive in Gaza.

“It’s a miracle that she survived, and we need to get aid to remaining hostages now,” her mother posted on X, along with a photograph of her holding the phone for her daughter to speak into.

Damari was taken from her home in the Kfar Aza kibbutz on 7 October and shot in the hand, then “blindfolded and forced into her own car with two other friends”, her family said previously.

Both Damari and her mother thanked Starmer for the government’s help bringing about her release on 19 January, and her mother said the prime minister invited Damari to visit Downing Street when she had recovered.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
Unrwa has more than 30,000 staff

Good reason for them not wanting the funding cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rp5B2opCv0

Cut all UN funding; they aid and abet the enemies of the country paying the lions share of their bills.

I just heard on the news that the Gaza strip will be rebuilt. So I ask by whom and how could it turn out better if they will just cut your throat again at the earliest convenience ?

When you give free stuff to bad people, they don't become better people because they have no skin in the game.

Seems like common sense to me.

You started it so you may finish it, with your own hands. money, and brains.

Trump: The goal is to resettle the people of Gaza permanently

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/403416

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday at the White House with US President Donald Trump. Netanyahu is the first international leader to be invited for a meeting following the President's inauguration for his second term in office.

Trump welcomed Netanyahu at the entrance of the White House, and the two shook hands and posed for photos. Before their one-on-one meeting, the two gave brief statements and responded to questions from reporters.

Asked by Arutz Sheva-Israel National News if the Saudis are expecting a Palestinian state as a condition for normalization with Israel, Trump replied, "No."

"Everybody is demanding one thing: Peace. We want peace. We want people to stop being killed. And he wants peace also," Trump added, pointing to Netanyahu.

Trump complimented Netanyahu and said, "We have the right leader of Israel. He's done a great job, and we've been friends for a long time, and I think we have a combination that's very unbeatable."

On his plan to relocate Gazans, Trump was asked what other countries would accept Gazans if Jordan and Egypt do not agree to do so and replied, "I think Jordan and Egypt will. I know they've said they're not going to accept, but I say they will. I think other countries will accept also."

"I think that Gaza is a demolition site right now. If you look at Gaza, there's hardly a building standing and the ones that are, are going to collapse. I think we need another location that's going to make people happy."

"If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes, where they can be happy and not be killed, like what's happening in Gaza...the whole thing is a mess, and I think that if we can resettle...Gaza's not a place for people to be living, and the only reason they want to go back is that they don't have an alternative."

"You could build four or five or six areas, some place where they can live and not die. Gaza is a place where they're going to end up dying," Trump stated. "I hope we can do something where they wouldn't want to go back [to Gaza]."

More at link

I've supported Trump though a lot, but this has to be one of the stupidest ideas he's ever had. I do not want to pay a fraction of one penny for the assholes. No country will accept these murdering savages. The concessions we will need to give up if we do force these terrorist upon other countries will be too expensive. Where's the international cooperation? What happens after Trump's term?

These terrorists will just attack the new inhabitants of the land. I don't want a middle eastern colony. The land is worthless outside of a nice beach.

STUPID.

Almost certainly, the idea is unworkable, and yes, the biggest problem of all is, where would Palestinians go in the interim. Egypt doesn't want them, Saudi Arabia sure the Hell doesn't want them. They're not coming here. We'd never get rid of them.

But, let me ask you- has anything else worked? Decades of this bullshit. Has anything worked?

I'm not going to criticize President Trump for trying to think of new ideas, when nothing else has worked.

I dont think it's a stupid idea. A little crazy, but not stupid. Anyway, we have no idea any of the details of his plan. We all know how Trump operates. His first proposal is always a little outrageous. Then the real deal making begins to take place. I'll wait for more of the details.

Hopefully it's a negotiating strategy, "give us the hostages and stop attacking or we will turn your country into a beach resort and casino."

If this is serious, I want the world to pay for it. I much prefer if my money is spent there it's on munitions.

These people are irredeemable build a big beautiful wall and let them kill each other or rebuild, or whatever they feel like doing. Just walk them off from all civilization.

quote:

Almost certainly, the idea is unworkable, and yes, the biggest problem of all is, where would Palestinians go in the interim. Egypt doesn't want them, Saudi Arabia sure the Hell doesn't want them. They're not coming here. We'd never get rid of them.

I hear Greenland is nice

Get it?

https://x.com/KurtSchlichter/s.../1886956168180064282




Regarding this Gaza thing, note that the implied condition of the US coming in, taking over Gaza and rebuilding it would be Gaza being emptied out, with the Palestinians going somewhere, meaning to to other Arab countries who don’t want them and might just be willing to pony up a ton of money to fix up Gaza so that they don’t have to take all the Palestinians that Trump would displace.

No, I think it’s more likely than Trump has suddenly done a complete about face on nation-building in the case of a strip of wasteland full of America-hating terrorists.

Come on. Stop freaking out.

I see this as a Great Bluff. Watch the Arab Countries pony up all the costs to rebuild Gaza. NO Arab country wants these wild dogs living in their country to start trouble for them.

If we’ve learned one thing, it’s that Trump is really good at chess….

Congress puts hold on Trump’s $1 billion arms sale to Israel
by Laura Kelly - 02/04/25 3:59 PM ET

Congress has placed a hold on a $1 billion arms sale package for Israel that was readied alongside President Trump welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington on Tuesday.

Two congressional aides told The Hill on Tuesday that a hold has been placed on the arms sale package. The Wall Street Journal first reported the hold, saying Democratic lawmakers had exercised a hold.

The four top lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have the power to individually block arms sales orders when over a certain dollar amount.

Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to visit Trump since he returned to the White House, generally a recognition of the importance of the relationship. A hold on arms sales to Israel signals a major flouting of convention, where U.S. military support for Israel is viewed as an investment in American national security.

The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, reported that the $1 billion arms sale package includes 4,700 1,000-pound bombs, worth more than $700 million, as well as armored bulldozers built by Caterpillar, worth more than $300 million.
The hold comes as Democrats have seethed over Trump’s actions a little over two weeks into his presidency. They pushed back on an initial federal aid freeze; are condemning a halt on U.S. foreign assistance; raising alarm over the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); and opposing the president’s threats of tariffs on America’s neighbors Mexico and Canada, to name a few of the high-profile conflicts.
But there are few options for Democrats to push back on Trump’s agenda absent Republican allies, given the GOP’s majorities in the House and Senate. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) have announced they will delay and stall Trump’s State Department nominees until the administration retreats on its efforts to break up USAID.

Trump could try to override the Israeli arms sale hold. In 2019, he issued an emergency declaration to push through more than $8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan without congressional approval. The Republican-controlled Senate at the time voted to block the sale.

Arms sales to Israel are historically bipartisan, even as Democrats have increasingly raised alarm over Israel’s war conduct in the Gaza Strip and Netanyahu’s policies toward Palestinians.

Amid Israel’s war against Hamas in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, an estimated half of the nearly 47,000 Palestinian casualties are women, children and the elderly. Nearly all of the 2 million Gaza residents require humanitarian assistance, and 90 percent are displaced among widespread destruction.

Still, Democrats in positions of power did not stand in the way of President Biden sending weapons to Israel or green-lighting arms sales. In June, Biden moved forward on a $18 billion arms sale to Israel.

https://thehill.com/policy/int...rael-arms-sale-hold/

Yeah, I'm not concerned with this at all. Trump is doing what he does best...negotiating.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
I see this as a Great Bluff. Watch the Arab Countries pony up all the costs to rebuild Gaza. NO Arab country wants these wild dogs living in their country to start trouble for them.

He’s freeing Palestine……….from Hamas. They’ve been calling and protesting for a free Palestine, he is doing it, or trying. Will they accept freedom? Probably not.

I've got it.

Order a few million rubber rafts and put all the Palestinians in the Mediterranean for a few years.

Build the casinos and resorts and then everybody can paddle ashore.