Multiple news outlets around the world have been inadvertently acting on behalf of the Hamas terrorist organization by publishing Hamas claims without first verifying them, an Israeli government spokesperson told reporters Monday during a news briefing.
Reuters: Hamas Says it Agreed to Israel’s List of 34 Hostages
An official for the Hamas terrorist organization told the Reuters news agency on Sunday that the group has approved a list of 34 hostages presented by Israel during talks for a hostage release and ceasefire deal. Reuters immediately published the report, which was subsequently picked up and amplified by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), among multiple other news outlets, including many in Israel.
Several Israeli news outlets published the list of hostages allegedly approved by Hamas, with names, ages and genders but without any indication of whether they are alive or deceased.
The list, it turns out, was given by Israel to the media in July 2024, according to Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer, who emphasized there has been no transfer of any list from Hamas, nor any agreement to release any hostages.
“The list of hostages that was published in the media was not provided to Israel by Hamas but was given by Israel to the mediators in July 2024. So once again, it is almost precisely the opposite as reported in the media,” he told journalists.
“As yet, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment from Hamas regarding the status of the hostages appearing on that list.
“I’ve seen it reported by Reuters and the BBC that Hamas did send us this list, and this is repeated without any question as if to paint the situation that it is Israel that is dragging their feet when it comes to these hostage negotiations when in fact it is precisely the opposite,” Mencer emphasized.
“I must say, media that repeat these claims of Hamas that they have somehow given us this list simply perpetuates this conflict because they do not put any pressure for real reporting on Hamas,” the spokesperson said. “They take their word for things.
“Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organization. Hamas [terrorists] hate freedom, and the BBC repeating their claims, false though they are, do no service whatsoever to both honest reporting and also an end to this conflict.
“Hamas must release the hostages, lay down their arms and this war will be over,” he added.
Such manipulation of international media — and Israeli society — by Hamas is by no means new. The terrorist organization understands that the families of the hostages, their friends and their supporters are desperate to receive some news, any news, of those who were abducted on October 7, 2023.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets weekly for more than a year in desperation to “force” the Israeli government to “make a deal” with Hamas to bring home the hostages — not realizing that it is their own actions that is further hardening the stance of the terrorist organization and pushing a deal further away.
A hard truth from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken: “Whenever there has been public daylight between the US and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel, Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a ceasefire and the release of the hostages.”
Those who have… pic.twitter.com/TsvtdY9XBH
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) January 6, 2025
“Whenever there has been public daylight between the US and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel, Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a ceasefire and the release of the hostages,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the New York Times on Sunday in a video exit interview.
“With this daylight, the prospects of getting the hostages-and-ceasefire deal over the finish line become more distant … Hamas won; when they saw Israel under pressure publicly they pulled back,” Blinken said.
Hamas Continues to Toy with Israelis Yearning to See their Loved Ones Released
The same phenomenon has also taken place over and over again: Hamas “hints” of an “imminent deal” prompt Israelis to call for the overthrow of the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The protesters blame Netanyahu and his coalition partners for failing to “make a deal” and win the release of the hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas, and Hamas then further hardens its stance behind closed doors.
The Hamas official who planted the latest fairy tale with Reuters added that any agreement to release Israeli hostages would be conditioned upon securing a complete IDF withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire to end the war.
Both conditions are exactly the same demands made by Hamas from the start of the talks.
Both conditions are also non-starters for the Netanyahu government, which has pledged to permanently end the threat to Israel emanating from Gaza, and to dismantle the ability of Hamas to wage war or rule the enclave.
“Until now, the ‘occupation’ continues to be obstinate over an agreement on the issues of the ceasefire and withdrawal, and has made no step forward,” the Hamas official coyly told Reuters, which obediently published the statement without adding any background or context explaining the reason for Israel’s “obstinance.”
The media “echo chamber” has since further amplified the Hamas message.
“The families of the hostages are shaken and upset by the list published this morning. We call on the media and the public to show sensitivity and responsibility regarding the publication of this and other such things until a deal is signed, and also during it. The time is ripe for a comprehensive agreement that will return all the hostages – the living for healing, and the murdered and fallen for a proper burial. We are leaving no one behind,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in an angry statement in response to the report.
“As yet, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment by Hamas regarding the status of the hostages appearing on the list,” Netanyahu said in a statement from his office. “Israel will continue to act relentlessly for the return of all of our hostages,” he emphasized.
