Abbas demands Hamas: Give hostages and weapons!

Abbas demands Hamas: Give hostages and weapons!

Gazastreifen, Palästina - Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas asked Hamas today to relieve the remaining Israeli hostages. The appeal comes in the middle of a persistent conflict that has escalated since the broken ceasefire on March 18. According to Palestinian information, more than 1,600 people have been killed during this time. Abbas emphasizes that the Palestinian people pay the price of Hamas' actions, not Israel. He also criticizes that the hostages of Hamas serve as an excuse for Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas is supposed to hand over its weapons to the Palestinian autonomy and transform itself into a political party," said Abbas. This statement is not the first time that he addresses the split between the two rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas, which has existed since an open conflict in 2007 when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. Abbas has been President of the Autonomy Authority since 2005 and a central figure of the Fatah party, which still plays a dominant role in West Bank.

videos and families in pain

Hamas did not respond to the request, but published a video of a kidnapped Israelis. In this video, the man's family asks for help, which illustrates the emotional stress for relatives. The family, especially the relatives of Omi, express that their hearts are broken and that they originally did not agree to the spread of the video.

Abbas' appeal falls on the eve of the Holocaust Memorial Day, which makes the situation even more precarious. The President describes the current situation as a moral failure for the state of Israel. According to Israeli information, 24 hostages and 35 corpses of kidnapped are still captured in the Gaza Strip, which further fueled the tensions.

The context of the conflict

The continuing conflict has historical roots that reach the 19th century and stirs the collective trauma of the Palestinian society, which describes the flight and expulsion of Palestinians in 1948. The war in the Gaza Strip is the result of years of tensions that reached a new highlight with the atrocities of Hamas in 2023 with the atrocities of Hamas, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 as hostage. These events were perceived as a pogrom by many Jewish Israelis and touch the collective trauma of Jewish persecution during the Holocaust.

The Israeli government has pursued a determined course since then to destroy Hamas' military capacities and to free the hostages. The humanitarian location in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated dramatically; Many areas are now uninhabitable. By May 2024, around 36,000 Palestinian deaths and well over 80,000 wounded were counted, with a high proportion of civilians.

The further developments in this tense situation remain to be waiting. The complexity and the deep wounds that the conflict left make a way to peace and reconciliation unabated.

For more information on the background of the conflict, please read at krone and the Education .