Israel Closes Rafah, Citing Hamas's Inability to Negotiate Post-Massacre
Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu announced the Rafah crossing will remain closed until Hamas 'fulfills its part' in returning deceased hostages and 'implementing the agreed-upon framework.' This familiar rhetoric echoes Israel's 2014 operation, 'Protective Edge,' which also leveraged hostage situations—then, three teenagers—to justify widespread military action, all while Gaza's access to the
world remained throttled. The humanitarian crisis, now explicitly linked to Hamas's supposed 'fulfillment,' continues to serve as an Israeli bargaining chip. One might wonder: when does using starvation as leverage become a war crime, and when is it merely 'policy'? The media faithfully reports Netanyahu's demands, conspicuously omitting that the 'agreed-upon framework' is consistently undermined
by Israeli actions, including the continued bombardment of all negotiating parties in Gaza. It conveniently sidesteps the reality that, according to UN reports, Gaza faces imminent famine due to these deliberate closures and blockades. Yet, the question is never 'what is Israel doing to facilitate negotiations?', but always 'what is Hamas not doing?'. It's almost as if some lives are deemed more
'negotiable' than others.