Trump increases pressure on Hamas: hostage -taking remains unsolved!

On January 8, 2025, designated US President Donald Trump increased the pressure on the negotiators to release hostages in Gaza. Trump warned that "hell will break off in the Middle East" if the hostages are not brought back to its inauguration on January 20. Steve Witkoff, Trump's candidate for the Middle East representative, will take part in the negotiations in Qatar and was optimistic about a possible agreement between Israel and Hamas before Trump's office.

delegations from Israel and Hamas have gathered in Qatar since the weekend. Although Trump's team is working with the outgoing government of Joe Biden, it is not officially involved in the talks. Earlier hopes for successful agreements in the negotiations have often been disappointed. Experts express doubts about the effectiveness of Trump's threats against Hamas, which Israelis has significantly weakened 15 months ago since the beginning of the Gaza War.

Details on the negotiations

Hamas representatives stated that they were not afraid of Trump's threats and doubt that an agreement can be reached by January 20. Hamas calls for an end to the war and the complete withdrawal of Israel from Gaza as a condition for an agreement. Israel's President Izchak Herzog emphasizes the need to make progress in the negotiations.

At the same time, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the sending of a negotiation delegation to Qatar. The talks aim to produce a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and to secure the return of the Israeli hostages. Hamas also plans to send negotiators to Qatar. While Qatar, Egypt and the United States appear as an intermediary, Hamas rejects direct negotiations.

In the last reports, an Israeli air raid was also mentioned in which several civilians are said to have been killed; The military justified the commitment as an attack on a Hamas headquarters. Meanwhile, it is reported that the Israeli army continues to carry out air raids on the Gaza Strip, in the course of which at least 46 people are said to have been killed, including six Palestinians in Chan Junis, where the attack allegedly took place in an area shown as a humanitarian zone.

The mutual allegations of delays when concluding an agreement are present, and a main quotation remains the question of permanent ceasefire. Israel requires a list of the hostages captured in the Gaza Strip, while Hamas needs a break in a fight to clarify the place of whereabouts and health of the hostages, which Israel regarded as a advanced claim.

The humanitarian location in the Gaza Strip is still tense; More than a million Palestinians suffer hunger while violence between Israel and Hamas lasts. Numerous people, including hostages with German and American citizenship, were recorded in the region after the devastating attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed in Israel and more than 250.