A video posted by the Israel Defense Forces shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar lifting a child up in the air and placing a firearm in the boy’s hands days after the planned Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, came out of hiding for a photo op. Watch him proudly display a child holding a firearm.
Does this look like an organization that wants peace? pic.twitter.com/omYzV04yR3
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 26, 2021
The Hamas chief made his first public appearance over the weekend since the ceasefire. On Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Sinwar and Hamas chief of staff Mohammed Deif are still targets.
Israel began sending humanitarian aid to Gaza on Saturday. After 11 days of the brutal conflict, convoys brought medicine, food, and fuel. The United Nations’ Emergency Response Fund sent more than $18 million in aid as well. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the United States under the Biden administration will also pledge millions in aid.
“I’m here to underscore the commitment of the United States to rebuilding the relationship with the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people, a relationship built on mutual respect and also a shared conviction that Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity, and dignity,” Blinken said following a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the White House Tuesday not to join the Iran nuclear deal, from which then-President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018. Blinken declined to affirm Netanyahu’s request, but Israel maintains that any funding would be used for Iran’s terrorist proxies, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Assad, and Houthis in Yemen.
