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Biden to meet families of US hostages held by Hamas; Houthis hit fuel tanker with missile

Biden to meet families of US hostages held by Hamas; Houthis hit fuel tanker with missile
Bloomberg
By Bloomberg
13 Dec 2023
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President Joe Biden will meet relatives of US citizens taken hostage by Hamas during the group’s 7 October attack on Israel, as families pressure the administration to do more to free them.

A fuel tanker was struck by a missile as it navigated the Red Sea, the latest in a string of incidents that have turned the waters off the coast of Yemen into the world’s riskiest shipping route.

There is reason to believe that Gazans are growing more disillusioned with Hamas — or more emboldened to criticise it — as Israel’s punishing war grinds through its tenth week.

Biden to meet relatives of US hostages held by Hamas 


President Joe Biden will meet relatives of US citizens taken hostage by Hamas during the group’s 7 October attack on Israel, as families pressure the administration to do more to free them.

The meeting was to take place on Wednesday at the White House, according to a US official. It will be the president’s first in-person encounter with the families since the Israel-Hamas war began. Biden had previously spoken to some of the hostages’ relatives via video conference. 

Hamas killed 1,200 people and took roughly 240 captive during its assault on Israel. More than 18,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory bombing and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, according to the territory’s Hamas-controlled health authority.  

Four US citizens have been freed so far, some as part of a temporary ceasefire last month that saw Hamas release dozens of hostages in exchange for Israel letting go of Palestinian prisoners. 

That agreement collapsed, however, with Israel and the US accusing Hamas of reneging on a promise to release women and children. Hamas blamed Israel for the breakdown. There are still seven US citizens unaccounted for since the outbreak of the war, according to the White House.  

Houthis hit fuel tanker with missile in vital trade artery


A fuel tanker was struck by a missile as it navigated the Red Sea, the latest in a string of incidents that have turned the waters off the coast of Yemen into the world’s riskiest shipping route.

At least 10 merchant ships have now been attacked or approached around Yemen since Israel’s war with Hamas broke out in October. Iran-backed Houthis are supporting Hamas, which is designated a terror group by the US and European Union, in the conflict. 

The 470-foot Strinda was hired by Eni SpA and heading to Italy — a reminder of the wider risks posed to global shipping by the Hamas-Israel war. The Houthis said they targeted the vessel because it was destined for Israel, and port information shows it was due to go there early next year.

The stretch of water where the incidents have taken place is part of a maritime corridor handling about 12% of global trade. An anti-ship cruise missile struck the Strinda on Monday as it passed through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait separating East Africa from the Arabian peninsula, US Central Command said in a statement on X. 

J Ludwig Mowinckels Rederi, the ship’s Norwegian owner, said the Strinda was bound for Italy carrying a cargo of feedstock to make biofuels. That was confirmed by Eni. 

The Strinda, an oil and chemicals tanker sailing under the flag of Norway, reported damage and fire on board, but no casualties. The destroyer USS Mason responded to the vessel’s distress call, according to Centcom. 

The Houthis have said they would attack ships that have links to — or are sailing towards — Israel, describing them as “legitimate targets.” Other Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria have been launching missiles towards Israel or at US bases to pressure the Israeli government to halt its attack on the Gaza Strip, which is governed by Hamas.  

Puma ends sponsorship of Israel’s national soccer team


Puma will end its sponsorship of Israel’s soccer federation after 2024 at a time when the German company is focusing on fewer and more higher-profile partnerships.

The decision is unrelated to the war in Gaza that began in October and was made late last year as part of Puma’s new “fewer-bigger-better” strategy, the company said in an emailed statement. The brand has faced calls for boycotts in some markets over its support for Israel’s team. 

The Israel Football Association said in a statement that it had the option to extend the contract to 2026 but chose not to do so. 

As part of the new approach, Puma is also letting its contract with Serbia’s soccer team expire next year and will introduce two newly signed sponsorships — including a “statement team” — later this year and in early 2024, it said. 

Gazans start to voice dissent against Hamas as war grinds on


He sits, unexpectedly, in front of an Israeli flag, his white hair and closely cropped beard set off by an equally unexpected half-smile. 

“I am Yousef Mahmoud Hamad Al-Mansi,” he says into the camera, adding that he’s a former minister of communication and housing for Hamas.

“They destroyed the Gaza Strip,” he says of current Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and his lieutenants, the ones who launched the 7 October attack. 

“People in Gaza say that Sinwar and his group destroyed us — we must get rid of them.” 

The 14-minute video, part of an Israeli-led propaganda campaign to discourage its enemy and boost its own people, was posted this week without elaboration by Israel’s Shin Bet security agency. Officials at that organization say Al-Mansi was arrested in Gaza on 5 December. 

While Al-Mansi’s statements may have been coerced, there is reason to believe that Gazans are growing more disillusioned with Hamas — or more emboldened to criticise it — as Israel’s punishing war grinds through its tenth week. Such a shift in mood might not have an immediate impact, but if Israel’s military campaign were to end without a clear victory, civilians could feel empowered to rise up against the Islamic group.

Since the war, life in Gaza — which never was easy — has become unbearable. And while most Palestinians are furious at Israel, some are also expressing anger at Hamas, which has ruled the strip since 2007, when it threw out the Palestinian Authority through a brief and violent civil war.

“Hand over the hostages and stop the war,” Rahaf Hneideq, a Gaza-based professor of Islamic studies, wrote to Hamas on Facebook. “Enough death, enough destruction. Stop the displacement. Don’t your people deserve that?”

The vast majority of the strip’s 2.2 million inhabitants have been displaced at least once since Israel’s invasion. More than 18,000 people, most of whom are women and children, have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble in the Israeli attacks. 

Humanitarian aid is also scarce and increasingly fought over. Many complaints about Hamas have to do with its diverting and hoarding aid from the public. 

“I saw Hamas police pushing people away, shooting in the air and then loading a lot of the aid into their own vehicles,” said Ali Abu Ouda, who fled with his family from the northern Gazan town of Beit Hanoun on three occasions before settling in the southern city of Rafah.   

In phone interviews, other Gazans said that while they were horrified by the level of destruction and what they consider the indiscriminate nature of the violence, they were also quietly hoping that Israel would destroy Hamas.  

Hamas had plenty of critics before the war, but they expressed themselves in whispers or by boarding rickety boats bound for Egypt or Turkey. Upset that the strip’s leadership looked after its followers far better than the rest of the population, Gazans in opinion polls showed growing disaffection with the group.  

Now, however, that silence has been lifted and online forums are rife with videos of angry Palestinians lashing out at Hamas.  

Biden warns Israel that public opinion can shift in Hamas war


Biden cautioned that public opinion in support of Israel in its war against Hamas could shift, as he sought to balance his support for the country with pressure for it to limit civilian casualties in Gaza.

“We continue to provide military assistance until they get rid of Hamas,” Biden said on Monday at a White House Hanukkah reception. “But we have to be careful. They have to be careful. The whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight — we can’t let that happen.”

Biden’s remarks come as the administration pushes Congress for a new Israel aid package, and as it fields calls from fellow Democrats to do more to help Palestinian civilians being injured or killed by Israel’s operations in Gaza.  

Top US officials, such as Vice-President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, have stepped up public warnings in recent weeks, and the White House on Monday expressed concern over a report that US-supplied white phosphorous was used by Israel in an operation in southern Lebanon. 

“Any time that we provide items like white phosphorus to another military, it is with the full expectation that it’ll be used in keeping with those legitimate purposes and, and in keeping with the law of armed conflict,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One. 

Biden on Monday said his support for Israel was “unshakable,” and used the Hanukkah event to also condemn a rising tide of anti-Semitism. DM
Read more in Daily Maverick: Israel-Palestine War

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