Skip to content
August 7, 2025
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • tiktok
MILLENNIUM NEWS 24/7

MILLENNIUM NEWS 24/7

Bridging The Community’s World Wide

  • Home
  • IP TV LIVE
  • PODCAST
  • U.S.News
  • LOCAL ELECTION
  • State News
    • Alabama
    • Alaska
    • Arizona
    • Arkansas
    • California
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Florida
    • Georgia
    • Hawaii
    • Idaho
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Kentucky
    • Louisiana
    • Maryland
    • Massachusetts
    • Michigan
    • Maine
    • Minnesota
    • Mississippi
    • Missouri
    • Montana
    • Nebraska
    • Nevada
    • New Hampshire
    • New Jersey
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • North Carolina
    • North Dakota
    • Oregon
    • Pennsylvania
    • Rhode Island
    • South Carolina
    • South Dakota
    • Tennessee
    • Texas
    • Virginia
    • Washington
    • West Virginia
    • U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Politics
  • World News
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Weather
  • Business
  • Health News
  • ADVERTISEMENT
  • About Us
  • Contact us
Live TV

A look at the prospects for a cease-fire deal after Israel rescued 4 hostages from Hamas captivity

TEL AVIV, Israel— Israel’s dramatic weekend rescue of four hostages from deep inside an urban area of the Gaza Strip came at a sensitive time in the 8-month-old war, as Israel and Hamas weigh a U.S. proposal for a cease-fire and the release of the remaining captives.

Both sides face renewed pressure to make a deal: The complex rescue is unlikely to be replicated on a scale needed to bring back scores of remaining hostages, and it was a powerful reminder for Israelis that there are still surviving captives held in harsh conditions. Hamas now has four fewer bargaining chips.

But they could also dig in, as they repeatedly have over months of indirect negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. Hamas is still insisting on an end to the war as part of any agreement, while Israel says it is still committed to destroying the militant group.

Here is a look at the fallout from the operation and how it might affect cease-fire talks:

ELATION, AND MOUNTING CALLS FOR A DEAL

The rescue operation was Israel’s most successful since the start of the war, bringing home four of the roughly 250 captives seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 cross-border attack, including Noa Argamani, who became an icon of the struggle to free the hostages.

The raid also killed at least 274 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, deepening the suffering of people in Gaza who have had to endure the brutal war and a humanitarian catastrophe.

The rescue was met with elation in Israel, which is still reeling from the Hamas attack and agonizing over the fate of the 80 captives and the remains of over 40 others still held in Gaza. Israeli hard-liners are likely to seize on it as proof that military pressure alone will bring the rest back.

But only three other hostages have been freed by military force since the start of the war. Another three were mistakenly killed by Israeli forces after they escaped on their own, and Hamas says others have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

“If anyone believes that yesterday’s operation absolves the government of the need to strike a deal, they are living a fantasy,” Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper. “There are people out there who need to be saved, and the sooner the better.”

Even the Israeli army’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, acknowledged the limits of military force. “What will bring most of the hostages back home alive is a deal,” he told reporters.

Over 100 hostages were released during a weeklong cease-fire last year, in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and reaching a similar agreement is still widely seen as the only way of getting the rest of the hostages back. Hours after Saturday’s rescue, tens of thousands of Israelis attended protests in Tel Aviv calling for such a deal.

U.S. President Joe Biden last week announced a proposal for a phased plan for a cease-fire and hostage release, setting in motion the administration’s most concentrated diplomatic push for a truce.

Biden described it as an Israeli proposal, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly questioned some aspects of it, particularly its call for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a lasting truce. His ultranationalist coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he ends the war without destroying Hamas.

That appears to have only deepened suspicions on the part of Hamas, which has demanded international guarantees that the war will end. It’s unclear if such guarantees have been offered, and Hamas has not yet officially responded to the plan.

NETANYAHU SEEKS TO GAIN

The rescue operation was a rare win for Netanyahu, who many Israelis blame for the security failures leading up to the Oct. 7 attack and the failure to return the hostages despite months of grinding war.

He has reveled in the operation’s success, rushing Saturday to the hospital where the freed hostages were held and meeting with each of them as cameras rolled. Recent opinion polls had already shown him making some progress in rehabilitating his image, and the rescue operation will help.

But as the elation fades, he will still face heavy pressure from an American administration that wants to wind the war down and an ultranationalist base that wants to vanquish Hamas at all costs. His main political opponent, the retired general Benny Gantz, quit the emergency wartime coalition on Sunday, leaving Netanyahu even more beholden to the hard-liners.

Netanyahu is already facing criticism from some of the families of deceased hostages, who say they received no such visits and accuse him of only taking credit for the war’s successes. Israel will also likely face heightened international pressure over the raid’s high Palestinian death toll.

“The success in freeing four hostages is a magnificent tactical victory that has not changed our deplorable strategic situation,” columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israel’s Maariv daily.

It all makes for a tough balancing act, even for someone like Netanyahu, who friends and foes alike consider to be a master politician.

The operation could provide the kind of boost with the Israeli public that would allow him to justify making a deal with Hamas. Or he might conclude that time is on his side, and that he can drive a harder bargain with the militants as they grapple with a major setback.

HAMAS LOSES BARGAINING CHIPS

Hamas has lost four precious bargaining chips it had hoped to trade for high-profile Palestinian prisoners. Argamani, widely known from a video showing her pleading for her life as militants dragged her away on a motorcycle, was a particularly significant loss for Hamas.

The raid may have also dealt a blow to Hamas’ morale. In the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas managed to humiliate a country with a far superior army, and since then it has repeatedly regrouped despite devastating military operations across Gaza.

But the fact that Israel was able to mount a complex rescue operation in broad daylight in the center of a crowded urban area has at least temporarily restored some of the mystique that Israel’s security forces lost on Oct. 7.

The operation also refocused global attention on the hostage crisis at a time when the U.S. is rallying world pressure on Hamas to accept the cease-fire deal.

But Hamas has a long history of withstanding pressure from Israel and others — often at enormous cost to Palestinians. The militants may conclude that it’s best to use the remaining hostages to end the war while they still can — or they might just look for better places to hide them.

___

About Author

Habib Habib

See author's posts

Continue Reading

Previous: Far-right gains in the EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron and Germany’s Scholz
Next: Nevada has a plan to expand electronic voting. That concerns election security experts

Related Stories

Protections of the Voting Rights Act are under threat as the law marks its 60th anniversary

Protections of the Voting Rights Act are under threat as the law marks its 60th anniversary

US is auctioning a seized $325M Russian superyacht with 8 state rooms, a helipad, a gym and a spa

US is auctioning a seized $325M Russian superyacht with 8 state rooms, a helipad, a gym and a spa

Homeland Security removes age limits for ICE recruits to boost hiring for Trump deportations

Homeland Security removes age limits for ICE recruits to boost hiring for Trump deportations

Entertainment

Lady Gaga leads 2025 MTV Video Music Awards nominations, followed by Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar 1

Lady Gaga leads 2025 MTV Video Music Awards nominations, followed by Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar

Ozzy Osbourne died of a heart attack, report says, citing death certificate 2

Ozzy Osbourne died of a heart attack, report says, citing death certificate

Flaco Jimenez, Texas accordionist who expanded popularity of conjunto and Tejano music, dies at 86 3

Flaco Jimenez, Texas accordionist who expanded popularity of conjunto and Tejano music, dies at 86

Jeannie Seely, soulful country singer behind hits like ‘Don’t Touch Me,’ dies at 85 4

Jeannie Seely, soulful country singer behind hits like ‘Don’t Touch Me,’ dies at 85

Justin Timberlake says he’s been diagnosed with Lyme disease 5

Justin Timberlake says he’s been diagnosed with Lyme disease

Martha’s Vineyard film fest returns with Black star power, bold storytelling and cultural legacy 6

Martha’s Vineyard film fest returns with Black star power, bold storytelling and cultural legacy

In ‘Sinners’ and his music, Buddy Guy is keeping the blues alive. It hasn’t been easy 7

In ‘Sinners’ and his music, Buddy Guy is keeping the blues alive. It hasn’t been easy

Top News

Protections of the Voting Rights Act are under threat as the law marks its 60th anniversary

Protections of the Voting Rights Act are under threat as the law marks its 60th anniversary

US is auctioning a seized $325M Russian superyacht with 8 state rooms, a helipad, a gym and a spa

US is auctioning a seized $325M Russian superyacht with 8 state rooms, a helipad, a gym and a spa

Homeland Security removes age limits for ICE recruits to boost hiring for Trump deportations

Homeland Security removes age limits for ICE recruits to boost hiring for Trump deportations

5 soldiers shot at Army’s Fort Stewart in Georgia, base reports

5 soldiers shot at Army’s Fort Stewart in Georgia, base reports

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • tiktok
Editor: Nur M Tofader, Home Office: 250 Park Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10177 Tell: 718 893 0002 (Office), 7188441300, +1212 401 6266, e-mail: Info@millenniuamtv24.com, e-mail: Info@millenniuamnews24.com, Copyright © Millennium News 24/7 | DarkNews by AF themes.