The global community witnessed a temporary week-long ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip from November 24, 2023. During the truce, both the parties released their respective prisoners one by one. While Hamas released 11 Israeli hostages from Gaza on November 27 night, Tel Aviv freed 53 Palestinians from Israeli prisons on November 28 morning and sent them to Ramallah. As of November 28, Hamas released a total of 50 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 19 hostages; while the Jewish State released 150 Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile, some videos have gone viral on social media, showing Hamas handing over some Israeli hostages to the Red Cross 50 days after their abduction. Those videos also feature the freed Israelis, with smiling faces, waving a goodbye to Hamas soldiers.

As expected, such videos have irked Israel. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have counter-released some videos, claiming that the previous videos were parts of the Hamas propaganda. The IDF has taken over the ‘X’ handle (formerly known as Twitter) to mention: “Why you are choosing to see only one side of the story? Don’t forget, these are the terrorists who killed our loved ones, kidnapped and tortured them. They (the Israeli prisoners) have been forced to laugh with guns pointed at their heads. Don’t let Hamas fool you.“

As per an agreement between Israel and Hamas brokered by Qatar, Tel Aviv has allowed Gaza to receive fuel and relief materials during the ceasefire. However, voluntary organisations have claimed that the relief materials are not sufficient for nearly 2.3 million Palestinians. António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, the Secretary-General of the UN, has yet again called for an end to attacks on Gaza. He also issued a statement, stressing that Palestinians were enduring “one of the darkest chapters” in their history. Although the UN chief condemned Hamas’ October 7 (2023) assault on Israel, he made it clear that it “cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”.

In a separate development, a US organisation has carried out a survey according to which Hamas is gradually losing popularity in the Gaza Strip. A US-Palestinian research group has claimed that 67% of Gazans were against the Hamas Regime even before the October 7 attack on Israel. Locals are of the opinion that the Hamas Government, elected in 2006, is totally corrupt, as well as dictatorial. The survey has further revealed that the majority of Gazans did not support the Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

Meanwhile, US tech billionaire, business tycoon and investor Elon Reeve Musk met Israeli President Isaac ‘Bougie’ Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu on November 27, during his trip to West Asia amidst the ceasefire. Later, he visited a kibbutz targeted by Hamas gunmen during the October 7 attack and declared his commitment to do whatever was necessary to stop the spread of hatred. On November 28, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan invited Musk to visit Gaza in order to witness in person the scope of the violence and devastation heaped upon the Gaza Strip by the Zionist Regime. “Within 50 days, Israel dropped more than 40,000 tonnes of explosives on the homes of defenceless Gazans,” stated Hamdan.

As per a report published on Al-Jazeera website on November 29, Musk struck an agreement under which “Starlink satellite units (would) only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip.” It may be noted that the Founder-Chairperson and CEO of SpaceX made a volte-face after his previous announcement that Starlink would enhance communications in Gaza, amidst numerous telecommunications blackouts.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das