How a Lebanese researcher is using visual data to map Israeli military’s use of white phosphorus

Special Shells that appears to be white phosphorus from Israeli artillery explode over Dahaira, a Lebanese border village with Israel, south Lebanon, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP)
Shells that appears to be white phosphorus from Israeli artillery explode over Dahaira, a Lebanese border village with Israel, south Lebanon, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 11 November 2024
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How a Lebanese researcher is using visual data to map Israeli military’s use of white phosphorus

How a Lebanese researcher is using visual data to map Israeli military’s use of white phosphorus
  • White phosphorus is used to create smokescreens on battlefields, but its misuse has many public health implications
  • Ahmad Baydoun maps Israel’s use of the chemical compound in southern Lebanon to document its environmental impact

DUBAI: When Ahmad Baydoun left Lebanon in 2022 to pursue a PhD on weaponized environments in Amsterdam, he did not anticipate his research would soon become essential in documenting devastation in his homeland.

His work has gained significance in the wake of escalating violence in Lebanon’s south, where reports allege Israeli forces have used white phosphorus in populated areas with severe consequences for the environment and public health.

White phosphorus is an incendiary substance known for emitting bright light, intense burning and thick smoke.




A view of M825 and M825A1 artillery shells labeled D528, the US Department of Defense Identification Code for "white phosphorus-based munitions" in Sderot, Israel on October 09, 2023. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Although it is permissible under international law to use phosphorus to obscure military movements, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons prohibits deploying it near civilians.

Using geolocated visual data to trace the environmental impact of military tactics, Baydoun has been documenting Israel’s use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon, both to bear witness and to demand accountability.

“Geolocation humanizes those affected and gives precision,” Baydoun told Arab News. “It’s hard to look away when you see the impact on people’s homes and landscapes.”

FASTFACTS

• White phosphorus is a chemical substance that ignites upon exposure to oxygen, creating intense, long-lasting flames and thick smoke.

• It is used militarily to obscure movement, mark targets and create smokescreens on battlefields.

• Contact with white phosphorus causes severe burns, respiratory damage and eye irritation, and it can be fatal if inhaled or absorbed.

• Residual chemicals seep into soil and water, contaminating crops and harming biodiversity, with lasting ecological damage.

• International law restricts white phosphorus use in civilian areas under the Chemical Weapons Convention and Geneva Protocol.

Baydoun’s journey from academia to advocacy was unexpected. His fascination with architectural policies and conflict initially revolved around how built environments could be manipulated for control and exclusion during wartime.

However, when cross-border exchanges between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia began on Oct. 8, 2023, the situation demanded a response.




Wounded Lebanese child Haidar Hijazi, 5, rests at hospital in Sidon on September 27, 2024, after he was injured following an Israeli airstrike that targeted his home village of al-Sharkiyah in southern Lebanon. (AFP)

Hezbollah began firing rockets into populated areas of northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas, prompting Israel to retaliate.

In northern Israel, the conflict has forced some 96,000 people to leave their homes. To date, 68 Israeli security personnel and 43 civilians have been killed, according to official tallies.

Israel’s campaign of airstrikes and “limited” ground operations have displaced more than a million Lebanese from their homes, while the death toll has surpassed 3,000, according to health officials.




Members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol the southern Lebanese Marjayoun district, near the border with Israel, on October 16, 2024. (AFP)

Baydoun shifted from theoretical work to real-time monitoring, using satellite imagery, social media, and data verification to map alleged phosphorus attacks on Lebanese villages.

The Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research estimates that 117 phosphoric bombs have been fired into southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, since October 2023. Many of these have reportedly sparked fires, engulfing fields, forests and villages.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Environment has previously said some 462 hectares of forests and farmland were destroyed between October and November 2023. The Ministry of Health has also called on the international community to condemn the use of white phosphorus and to intervene.




The devastation and destruction of many villages along the Blue Line, and even beyond, is shocking, says Andrea Tenenti, UNIFIL spokesperson

Despite Israel’s insistence that its use of phosphorus serves only as a smokescreen to shield its soldiers’ movements, local Lebanese officials say the weapons are part of a larger strategy to render the area uninhabitable, pushing residents to evacuate en masse.

The use of white phosphorus in populated areas is not just a violation of international law, but a public health threat. When it comes into contact with the skin, it causes extreme, often fatal, burns. It also produces thick fumes that irritate the eyes and respiratory system.

Wounds caused by phosphorus burns can continue to inflict damage days after exposure, requiring extensive medical care — often unavailable in the midst of conflict.




Ahmad Baydoun. (Supplied)

Mental health issues also proliferate among survivors, with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and insomnia becoming prevalent. The persistent psychological impact, especially for children, is immense and underreported.

The environmental damage is equally far-reaching. When the chemical compound seeps into the soil, it contaminates vegetation and crops, potentially rendering large areas of farmland unusable.

Additionally, chemicals can leach into rivers and water systems, destroying biodiversity and threatening communities reliant on these resources.




People watch as a smoke cloud erupts after a rocket fired by an Israeli war plane hit a building in Beirut's southern suburb of Shayah on October 22, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

“We’re not just talking about Lebanon,” said Baydoun. “If these areas aren’t detoxified, we’ll see consequences across the region. Lebanese agricultural exports could carry these toxins, affecting ecosystems and markets beyond our borders.”

Agriculture makes up a significant part of Lebanon’s economy. The contamination of farmland in Lebanon’s south — an area once responsible for much of the country’s crop production — could deal a severe blow to the local economy and food security.

Farmers in southern Lebanon, many already impoverished, face the loss of homes and livelihoods. The destruction of olive groves, citrus orchards and wheat fields reduces local sustenance and regional exports, deepening Lebanon’s economic crisis.




Fire sweep over the Marjayoun plain in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel after being hit by Israeli shelling on August 16, 2024, amid the ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)

While Baydoun works from Amsterdam, his research methods allow him to follow developments closely.

He employs techniques such as geolocation, where he uses digital imagery and coordinates to pinpoint attacks, and chronolocation, a process of using environmental cues like shadow lengths to estimate times.

These tools help him cross-verify incidents with reliable satellite data, providing accurate, real-time assessments.




A farmer collects his dead livestock which was killed by Israeli bombardment that hit a farm along the hills of the village of Jezzine in southern Lebanon early on July 8, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)

“Verifying attacks can be complex given how rife misinformation and AI manipulation have become,” said Baydoun. “But every precise verification adds to a larger story — one that’s too compelling to ignore.”

He is not alone in his commitment to these methods. Collaborating with digital investigative platforms, Baydoun joins a global community of researchers dedicated to documenting environmental violence.

Together, they expose patterns of harm that may otherwise remain concealed.




Medical staff care for victims after the Israeli military struck a Beirut's southern suburb, on July 30, 2024, at Bahman hospital. (AFP)

Baydoun also works closely with Lebanese journalist-activists, who help him obtain localized information from remote areas that journalists can no longer access due to safety concerns.

“No one is there to report on what is happening in the south anymore,” said Baydoun. “There is only the UN Interim Force in Lebanon and satellite imagery as sources of information.

“I have previously worked on a map showing how close Israel was bombing near the UN peacekeepers in the area. The peacekeeping forces suffered from gastrointestinal complications, and skin irritations; both are unique effects of exposure to white phosphorus.”

UNIFIL is a UN peacekeeping mission established in 1978 to administer the Blue Line demarking the border between Israel and Lebanon.

Despite spokesperson Andrea Tenenti previously saying that an investigation had found “possible traces of the use of white phosphorus” in close proximity to a UNIFIL base, a confidential report recently published by the Financial Times has been more damning.

The report mentions various incidents where Israeli forces have mounted attacks on or near UNIFIL bases in Lebanon. In one incident, the Israel Defense Forces reportedly used white phosphorus at close range, injuring 15 UN peacekeepers in the process.

The report details the attack of Oct. 13, in which two Israeli tanks breached the main gate of a UNIFIL base and remained inside for 45 minutes. Shortly after, the IDF fired shells approximately 100 meters north of the base, emitting “suspected white phosphorus smoke,” which injured UNIFIL personnel.

“Despite putting on protective masks, 15 peacekeepers suffered effects, including skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions after the smoke entered the camp,” the report said.

Israel denied directly striking the compound and said the IDF was using the smokescreen for cover as it attempted to evacuate soldiers.

Israel had previously demanded the withdrawal of the UNIFIL peacekeepers from 31 of their bases along the Israeli-Lebanese border, as the areas had become “active combat zones.”

The international community has faced criticism for its muted response to Israel’s use of white phosphorus in Lebanon.

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have condemned the use of white phosphorus in densely populated regions in previous conflicts, but statements from world leaders have yet to directly address the allegations in Lebanon.

For Baydoun, his work on the subject serves as both documentation and advocacy. His research could prove critical, providing an account of Lebanon’s suffering that would otherwise go unseen. But the toll is personal, too.

“I’ve had my share of sleepless nights,” he said. “Emotions run high when attacks happen close to loved ones. You’re working for your country, and it’s hard to stop.”

 


US military says airstrike in Syria kills leader of Al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras al-Din

US military says airstrike in Syria kills leader of Al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras al-Din
Updated 13 sec ago
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US military says airstrike in Syria kills leader of Al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras al-Din

US military says airstrike in Syria kills leader of Al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras al-Din

RIYADH: A senior official of an Al-Qaeda affiliate was killed during an airstrike by American forces in northwest Syria, the US Central Command, or Centcom said on Sunday.

In a statement posted on the X platform, CENTCOM said the "precision airstrike" targeted and killed "a senior finance and logistics official in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate."

It said the operation "is part of CENTCOM's ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks" against civilians and military personnel from the US and its allies.

"We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists in order to defend our homeland, and US, allied, and partner personnel in the region,” the statement quoted Centcom chief Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla as saying.

Last January 30 in Syria, a Hurras al-Din leader was also reported killed in a US military airstrike that targetted his vehicle on a highway near the village of Batabo in northwest Syria.

The US military has around 900 troops in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Daesh group. The coalition was established in 2014 to help combat the armed group, which had taken over vast swaths of Iraq and Syria.

(With AFP)

 

 


Turkish opposition party delegation meets with Kurdish leader in Iraq as part of PKK peace efforts

Turkish opposition party delegation meets with Kurdish leader in Iraq as part of PKK peace efforts
Updated 17 February 2025
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Turkish opposition party delegation meets with Kurdish leader in Iraq as part of PKK peace efforts

Turkish opposition party delegation meets with Kurdish leader in Iraq as part of PKK peace efforts
  • Ocalan, 75, founded the PKK, in 1978, which began an armed insurrection for an autonomous Kurdish state in Turkiye’s southeast in 1984, costing tens of thousands of lives

BAGHDAD: A Turkish opposition party delegation arrived in Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region Sunday against the backdrop of peace efforts between Ankara and a banned Kurdish separatist movement in Turkiye.
The delegation led by Sirri Sureyya Onder and Pervin Buldan, two senior officials with the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, in Turkiye, met with Masoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party — the dominant Kurdish party in Iraq — in Irbil Sunday.
Barzani’s office said in a statement that they discussed “the peace process in Turkiye” and that the Turkish delegation conveyed a message from Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of Turkiye’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
Barzani “stressed the need for all parties to intensify their efforts and endeavors to enable the peace process to achieve the desired results” and reiterated “his full readiness to provide assistance and support to the peace process in Turkiye and make it a success,” the statement said.
The DEM party has long pressed for greater democracy in Turkiye and rights for the country’s Kurdish population, and also to improve conditions for the imprisoned Ocalan.
Ocalan, 75, founded the PKK, in 1978, which began an armed insurrection for an autonomous Kurdish state in Turkiye’s southeast in 1984, costing tens of thousands of lives. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Turkiye and its Western allies. The central Iraqi government in Baghdad announced a ban on the group, which maintains bases in northern Iraq, last year.
Captured in 1999 and convicted of treason, Ocalan has been serving a life sentence on Imrali island in the Marmara Sea.
The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has traditionally had an antagonistic relationship with the left-wing DEM party, frequently ousting its elected officials on charges of ties to the PKK and replacing them with state appointed officials.
However, this icy relationship began thawing last October, when Erdogan’s coalition partner, far-right nationalist politician Devlet Bahceli suggested that Ocalan could be granted parole, if his group renounces violence and disbands.
The peace effort comes at a time when Erdogan may need support from the DEM party in parliament to enact a new constitution that could allow him to stay in power for unlimited terms.
The Turkish Constitution doesn’t allow Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003 as prime minister and later as president, to run for office again unless an early election is called — something that would also require the support of the pro-Kurdish party.
Even as the latest peace efforts are underway, Erdogan’s government has widened a crackdown on the opposition, arresting journalists and politicians. Several elected Kurdish mayors have been ousted from office and replaced with state appointed officials, the latest this Saturday, when the mayor of Van municipality in eastern Turkiye was removed from his post and replaced with the state-appointed governor.
Meanwhile, conflict is ongoing between Turkish-backed armed groups and Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.
Turkiye views the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed military Kurdish alliance in Syria, as an extension of the PKK. The SDF is in negotiations with the new government in Damascus following the ouster of then Syrian President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive.
While most former insurgent groups have agreed to dissolve and integrate into the new Syrian army, the SDF has refused so far.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saturday that the government would reconsider its military presence in northeastern Syria if that country’s new leaders eliminate the presence of the PKK in the area. Also Saturday, Kurds in northeastern Syria staged a mass protest to demand Ocalan’s release.
 

 


Syria’s new leader visits former Assad strongholds

Syria’s new leader visits former Assad strongholds
Updated 17 February 2025
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Syria’s new leader visits former Assad strongholds

Syria’s new leader visits former Assad strongholds
  • Latakia and Tartus are also home to Assad ally Russia’s only two military bases outside the former Soviet Union

DAMASCUS: Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa visited Latakia and Tartus on Sunday, his office said, making his first official trip to the coastal provinces formerly known as strongholds of ousted ruler Bashar Assad.
Sharaa met with “dignitaries and notables” during his visit, the Syrian presidency said on Telegram.
It published images of Sharaa meeting with dozens of people, some apparently religious figures, in the two provinces’ capital cities.
Earlier Sunday, Latakia province’s official Telegram channel published footage showing thousands of people gathered in the city, some taking photos, as Sharaa’s convoy passed through.
Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham led the rebel offensive that ousted Assad in December, and he was appointed interim president last month.
Assad’s hometown is located in Latakia, which along with neighboring Tartus is home to a large number of the country’s Alawite community, a branch of Shiite Islam to which Assad’s family belonged.
Assad had presented himself as a protector of minorities in multi-ethnic, multi-confessional Syria, but largely concentrated power in the hands of his fellow Alawites.
Latakia and Tartus are also home to Assad ally Russia’s only two military bases outside the former Soviet Union.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, Latakia saw violence after Assad’s fall that has since eased somewhat, though occasional attacks are still carried out on checkpoints.
State news agency SANA, citing the interior ministry, said Sunday that a security patrol had been attacked in the province, wounding two patrol members and killing a woman.
Latakia has also seen reprisals against people seen as linked to the former government, though such incidents have also decreased recently, the Britain-based Observatory added.
Security operations have previously been announced in the province in pursuit of “remnants” of the ousted government’s forces.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said that “there are still thousands of officers from the former regime present in Latakia and who haven’t settled their status” with the new authorities.
Sharaa’s visit could be a message that there is “no possibility for the regime of Bashar Assad to move in Latakia or on the Syrian coast,” he told AFP.
Despite reassurances from Syria’s new authorities that minorities will be protected, members of the Alawite community in particular fear reprisals because of the minority’s link to the Assad clan.
Sharaa’s visit followed trips to Idlib, the rebels’ former bastion, and Aleppo a day earlier.
 

 


Israel security cabinet to discuss new phase of Gaza truce after Rubio visit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Updated 17 February 2025
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Israel security cabinet to discuss new phase of Gaza truce after Rubio visit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
  • Netanyahu’s office said he would convene a meeting of his security cabinet on Monday to discuss phase two
  • It said the prime minister was also dispatching negotiators to Cairo Monday to discuss the “continued implementation” of phase one

JERUSALEM: Israel’s security cabinet was set to discuss on Monday the next phase of the ceasefire in Gaza, after top US diplomat Marco Rubio and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu presented a united front on their approach to Hamas and Iran.
Rubio was in Israel on his first Middle East trip as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state.
“Hamas cannot continue as a military or a government force... they must be eliminated,” Rubio said of the Palestinian group that fought Israel for more than 15 months in Gaza until a fragile ceasefire took effect on January 19.
Standing beside him, Netanyahu said the two allies had “a common strategy,” and that “the gates of hell will be opened” if all hostages still held by militants in Gaza are not freed.
The comments came a day after Hamas freed three Israeli hostages in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners — the sixth such swap under the ceasefire deal, which the United States helped mediate along with Qatar and Egypt.
Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of ceasefire violations, and adding to strain on the deal is Trump’s widely condemned proposal to take control of rubble-strewn Gaza and relocate its more than two million residents.
“We discussed Trump’s bold vision for Gaza’s future and will work to ensure that vision becomes a reality,” Netanyahu said.
The scheme that Trump outlined earlier this month as Netanyahu visited Washington lacked details, but he said it would entail moving Gazans to Jordan or Egypt.
Trump has suggested the coastal territory could be redeveloped into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Washington, Israel’s top ally and weapons supplier, says it is open to alternative proposals from Arab governments, but Rubio has said that for now, “the only plan is the Trump plan.”
However, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states have rejected his proposal, and instead favor — as does much of the international community — the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday said establishment of a Palestinian state was “the only guarantee” of lasting Middle East peace.
Hamas and Israel are implementing the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire, which nearly collapsed last week.
“At any moment the fighting could resume. We hope that the calm will continue and that Egypt will pressure Israel to prevent them from restarting the war and displacing people,” said Nasser Al-Astal, 62, a retired teacher in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis.
Since the truce began last month, 19 Israeli hostages have been released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Out of 251 people seized in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.
In a statement, Rubio condemned Hamas’s hostage-taking as “sick depravity” and called for the immediate release of all remaining captives, living and dead, particularly five Israeli-American dual nationals.
Negotiations on a second phase of the truce, aimed at securing a more lasting end to the war, could begin this week in Doha, a Hamas official and another source familiar with the talks have said.
Netanyahu’s office said he would convene a meeting of his security cabinet on Monday to discuss phase two.
It said the prime minister was also dispatching negotiators to Cairo Monday to discuss the “continued implementation” of phase one.
The team would “receive further directives for negotiations on Phase II” after the cabinet meeting, the office said.
The Gaza war triggered violent fallout throughout the Middle East, where Iran backs militant groups including in Yemen and Lebanon.
Israel fought a related war with Hamas’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah, severely weakening it.
There were also limited direct strikes by Iran and Israel against each other.
The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,271 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
On Sunday, Hamas said an Israeli air strike killed three police officers near south Gaza’s Rafah in what the militant group called a “serious violation” of the truce.
Israel said it had struck “several armed individuals” in south Gaza.
It is at least the second Israeli air strike in Gaza since the ceasefire began.


Shipment of ‘heavy’ US-made bombs arrives in Israel

Bunker Buster bombs staged 23 March in the hangar bay aboard USS Constellation. (AFP file photo)
Bunker Buster bombs staged 23 March in the hangar bay aboard USS Constellation. (AFP file photo)
Updated 16 February 2025
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Shipment of ‘heavy’ US-made bombs arrives in Israel

Bunker Buster bombs staged 23 March in the hangar bay aboard USS Constellation. (AFP file photo)
  • The war has devastated much of Gaza, resulting in the displacement of much of its 2.4 million population
  • In response to concerns over civilian deaths, former US President Joe Biden’s administration had blocked a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, but Trump reportedly approved them after taking office

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that a shipment of “heavy” US-made bombs has arrived in Israel, as Marco Rubio began his first visit to the country as Washington’s top diplomat.
“A shipment of heavy aerial bombs recently released by the US government was received and unloaded overnight in Israel,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to MK-84 munitions recently authorized by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The munitions shipment that arrived in Israel, released by the Trump administration, represents a significant asset for the air force and the military and serves as further evidence of the strong alliance” between Israel and the US, Defense Minister Israel Katz said in the statement.
The Trump administration had earlier in February approved the sale of more than $7.4 billion in bombs, missiles, and related equipment to Israel.
The sale “improves Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serves as a deterrent to regional threats,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said at the time.
Israel launched a hugely destructive offensive against Hamas in Gaza in October 2023 in response to an attack by the Palestinian group that month.
The war has devastated much of Gaza, resulting in the displacement of much of its 2.4 million population.
A ceasefire has been in effect since Jan.19, providing for the release of hostages seized by Hamas.
In response to concerns over civilian deaths, former US President Joe Biden’s administration had blocked a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, but Trump reportedly approved them after taking office.
A former Israeli negotiator has said Israel missed two opportunities last year to secure a Gaza truce and hasten hostage releases, prompting a swift rebuttal from the premier’s office.
“In my view, we missed two opportunities to sign an agreement ... in March and July” last year, said Oren Setter, who resigned from the Israeli negotiating team in October, in remarks broadcast on Channel 12.
“We did not do everything we could to bring them back as quickly as possible.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused by opposition figures and some families of hostages of not doing enough to secure their release and torpedoing talks.
On Saturday, his office dismissed Setter’s remarks, stating that “his claims that an agreement could have been reached earlier are entirely baseless.”
“Had the prime minister not stood firm, at least half of the living hostages would not have been freed in the first phase” of an ongoing truce, the statement said.
“As repeatedly testified by senior US officials, Hamas refused to engage in negotiations for months and was the sole obstacle to a deal,” the statement added.
Setter clarified that he wanted to “speak about facts” and argued that the deaths of hostages in captivity and “unnecessary suffering” could have been avoided while still placing primary responsibility for last year’s negotiation deadlock on Hamas.