‘It’s difficult to have a ceasefire without resolving the hostage issue’, says Israeli ambassador to Brazil – Prisma

On the rainy afternoon of this Monday (25) in Brasília, Israel’s ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshine, received some journalists at the official residence and made it clear: “There is international pressure on Israel. They think this pressure will stop us without release the hostages, but that’s not going to happen.”

The speech came after being asked about a possible ceasefire, suggested by the UN Security Council, until April 9th.

“It is difficult to have a ceasefire without resolving the hostage issue. I don’t know if we will reach a better situation on the hostage issue by April 9. Hamas is not an organized state. They are terrorists. They know very well how sensitive this issue is. of hostages. For Israeli society, the hostages must return,” said Zonshine.

Currently, 134 Israelis are held hostage by the terrorist group Hamas and there is no prediction of when they will be released. In contrast, approximately 700 Palestinians are under Israeli custody.

Israeli intelligence gathered data regarding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and released the following information:
– 15 people from UNRWA actively participated in the October 7 attack.
– 12 thousand people work for UNRWA.
– 17% of them are linked to Hamas. Which represents 2135 people.
– 485 of them are activists from the military wing of Hamas and receive salaries from the UN
– 1650 people are from other Hamas activities (health, education and social affairs)
– 18 of them were part of the activists
– 32 people contribute to part of the Al Qassam brigade, the military wing of Hamas that operates in the Gaza strip. They provide fuel supply and storage of war materials and rocket launches.

Faced with this reality, to date, 18 countries have stopped sending humanitarian aid through UNRAW. However, Brazil stated that it will increase support. “There are other ways to get food and medicine into the Gaza Strip. Increasing the power of UNRWA will not improve the situation in the Gaza Strip,” Zonshine said.

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