Hamas has been delivering a PR masterclass during the prisoner exchanges — and the Israelis are seething
The handovers of the Zionist prisoners in Gaza have been extremely rich in symbolism.
From makeshift stages replete with pointed messages to the Israelis to the processions of the Zionist prisoners of war before their release and from the displays of weapons seized from the occupation thugs to Al-Qassam Brigades branded goodie bags for the prisoners, the Palestinian resistance has been delivering a masterclass in public relations during the ongoing prisoner exchanges. And the Israelis are seething in anger. That’s mission accomplished at many levels.
Hamas released the first set of three Zionist prisoners on January 19. To mark the occasion, the leading Palestinian resistance faction released a neatly-choreographed video titled “Delivery of the first batch of Zionist prisoners in the Gaza Strip as part of the first phase of the Al-Aqsa Flood prisoner exchange deal”. It shows the three beaming prisoners driven in a convoy of cars to be handed over to the officials of the Red Cross. All through their drive to the centre of Gaza for the handover, the Qassam fighters were greeted with cheers of the people they fought so fiercely to defend.
To complete the extraordinarily detailed PR exercise, and in a practice copied directly from the occupiers, Hamas handed each captive certificates that marked their identity and incarceration details. This appeared on one such certificate: “Issued by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, a decision to release prisoner Emily Damari. Identity number: 316003581. Date of birth: 6/10/1996. Place of detention: Re’im. Place of residence: Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Place of work: Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Date of detention: 10/7/2023. Date of release: 1/19/2025.”
Moreover, the scenes of conspicuous Hamas men all over the enclave was an eyesore to the Israeli eye. And that precisely was the point: to tell the Israelis that despite their barbaric savagery over 15 months, the resistance stands tall and unfazed.
Israeli army radio correspondent Doron Kadosh was foaming at the mouth at the sight he was witnessing and stated the sentiments that his fellow squatters in Palestine shared, “While Israel continues to wait for the list of abductees and while Hamas continues to target Israel, these are the most important images to see right now from the Gaza Strip:
“Hamas terrorists, in the infamous pickup trucks, with green headbands, and Hamas policemen in Gaza police uniforms — are redeploying throughout the Strip, to the cheers of the crowd.”
Kadosh then went on to state the obvious: Hamas remained firmly in control of the Gaza Strip: “Hamas, which at no point in the war lost its control or hold on any part of the Gaza Strip (except for the areas that were completely evacuated), is taking advantage of these hours to strengthen and consolidate its hold and rule over the Gazan citizens.
“Israel evacuated forces from Beit Hanoun, from Jabalia, from Beit Lahia, from central Rafah — and in the meantime Hamas has redeployed and continues to control a large number of civilians.
“This is the bottom line: Even after a year and three months, Israel has not yet succeeded in dismantling Hamas’ rule in Gaza and finding an alternative government.”
Even Giora Eiland, the ghoul behind the grotesque “general’s plan” that envisaged ethnically cleansing northern Gaza of its natives to make way for Jewish-only settlements, described the ceasefire and the prisoner exchange as a “resounding failure” for Israel.
After hitting the Zionists where it hurt, Hamas upped the PR ante in the next set of the prisoner release.
Unlike the first batch, the second batch of four Israeli prisoners were brought to a makeshift stage complete with pointed messages in the background — “Palestine - the victory of the oppressed people vs the Nazi Zionism” and “The Palestinian fighters of freedom will always be victorious” were two such messages — and faces of the defeated Israeli leadership — both political and military — placed under the boot of the resistance fighters guarding the stage.
To add to the chutzpah, the Hamas men standing beside the Israeli prisoners were armed with Israeli Tavor bullpup assault rifles, seized from the Zionist foot soldiers they kept smoking in Gaza for 15 months straight.
The beaming Israeli prisoners with their thumbs-up and victory signs — and one with a nod a smile to a Hamas fighter (who remained stoic) — was stuff of priceless PR.
In a Hamas video marking their release, the prisoners are seen speaking in Arabic and grinning from ear to ear. They later went on to tell Israeli media about the good care the resistance took of them and how the four of them were always kept together. More than their words, their clean and healthy physical appearance was enough evidence of their treatment at the hands of the resistance, who protected them and kept them well fed despite facing starvation and relentless bombings for over a year.
Before the first batch of prisoners were released, the Zionist propaganda rags ran stories insinuating that the Israelis would be returning pregnant — indeed, every accusation is a confession — but when they came healthy and happy, the shameless hacks changed their story. The propagandists at The Jerusalem Post ran a remarkably vacuous article, writing: “Hamas used special techniques to make them look healthier and more energetic.” Staying on brand, they accused Hamas of implementing “accelerated rehabilitation”!
There’s no depraved fantasy a Zionist mind can’t conjure.
The third exchange on January 30 upped the Hamas PR ante some more.
Conducted at two different locations, the first handover of a Zionist prisoner took place near Kamal Adwan Hospital, which was ultimately destroyed by the Israelis after a months-long siege and whose director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been abducted to Zionist dungeons where eyewitnesses have reported his torture.
The site itself was the resistance’s message that despite their savagery, the Israelis couldn’t exercise control in any part of northern Gaza, not even the hospital they viciously attacked for several months.
Qassam displayed a Scorpion EVO 3 submachine gun on a table atop the stage where the Zionist prisoner appeared to wave before the cameras and receive pleasantries. The weapon was captured from an Israeli soldier after a special unit of the Israeli military was lured into a tunnel back in May 2024. In a video released by Al-Qassam Brigades on May 25, a fighter was shown dragging a Zionist soldier inside a tunnel and warning the enemy, “This is the fate of your soldiers when they enter our tunnels.”
The Israelis never said a word about their captured soldier or if there were more than one captured by the resistance. In its video, Qassam showed three separate submachine guns as well as two vests and helmets each, insinuating there were more that it either eliminated or took captive.
In a speech later that day, Abu Obeida, the Qassam spokesman, revealed the following details about the successful operation:
Our fighters lured a Zionist force into one of the tunnels in Jabalia camp, trapping them in an ambush inside and at the entrance of this tunnel.
By the grace and strength of Allah, they were able to clash with this force at point-blank range. Then, our fighters attacked the reinforcement force that rushed to the scene with explosive devices, hitting them directly.
Our fighters then withdrew after detonating the tunnel used in this operation, after causing all members of this force to be killed, injured, or captured, and seizing their military equipment.
The prominent display of the gun on the stage was likely meant to remind the Israelis of another of their many failures in Gaza.
The rich symbolism during the Jabalia prisoner handover didn’t end there.
Just like at the makeshift stage of the second exchange, the stage in Jabalia was adorned with the insignia of the various Israeli military units comprehensively defeated by the resistance since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation.
And there was a twist.
The insignias of the brigades were modified to reflect their defeat!
From Resistance News Network:
The arrows of the “Nahal” brigade are cut down by the sickle of resistance.
The fox of the “Givati” brigade is stabbed, and a caption in Hebrew reads “Jabalia: Givati’s Graveyard.”
The skull of a “Kfir” brigade soldier is stabbed with a knife.
An officer of the 401st “iron tracks” brigade lies dead, upside down, as a result of his vehicle being overturned by resistance explosives.
No propaganda. Just plain truth.
The spot for the handover of the other two Zionist prisoners on the day was another message in itself. It took place at the site of martyred Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s destroyed residence in Khan Yunis.
On the rubble of his house, a banner displayed Sinwar arming himself with a handgun taken from an Israeli soldier, and carried a headline “The Master of the Flood,” along with a prayer that Sinwar regularly recited:
O Allah, break their might through our actions,
O Allah, lower their flag by our hands,
O Allah, humiliate their leaders through our efforts,
O Allah, shatter their prestige with our endeavours,
O Allah, remove their state through our actions
The banner finished with the following line:
You were truthful with Allah, and He was truthful with you.
For Sinwar was nothing if not truthful. As one recently released Palestinian hostage recalled an encounter with an Israeli officer: “One time, the officer said to us, ‘So? Sinwar fooled you, didn’t he?’ and we replied, ‘Sinwar doesn’t fool anyone.’”
While the Zionists have utilised all the resources at their disposal to paint the Palestinians as sub-humans and demons, no one is buying their propaganda anymore. The ordinary Palestinians with their steadfastness and resilience, and their fighting men with their ethics in the battlefield, have proven themselves beyond any smears.
So the Israelis have been seething.
The images of the release of the two Zionists at Sinwar’s house, riled the cartoonish former minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called Israel’s genocide in Gaza “a complete failure.” “[T]he horrific images from Gaza make it clear: This is not a complete victory — this is a complete failure, in a reckless deal like no other”, Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter.
A ghoul, who seemingly will never have enough of the Arab blood to satisfy his bloodlust, Ben-Gvir still parroted his oft-repeated line about decimating Gaza some more before the Palestinian turned against the resistance, “The government could have stopped the bloodthirsty mob that is now trying to lynch our hostages from humanitarian aid, fuel, electricity, and water, and crushed them militarily until they themselves begged to return our hostages, but it decided to choose the path of surrender to the human monsters. It is not too late to come to our senses!”
Netanyahu was also seething on Twitter, “I view with great severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages.”
Israel’s state broadcaster, Kan, reported that the Israeli government even complained to the mediators about the scenes witnessed during the prisoner handover. “Israel conveyed messages of threat and anger to Qatari and Egyptian mediators due to scenes of the release of Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses,” Kan reported.
In revenge, the Israelis delayed the release of the Palestinian captives. The first set of abducted Palestinians were granted freedom only after 5 pm, hours after their scheduled release.
While the Israeli leadership pretended to be irked by the chaotic scenes during the release of their prisoners in Khan Yunis, it’s clear they are angered by Hamas’s show of strength — and superior PR skills.
Even the ordinary Israelis — avid ethnic cleansing connoisseurs that they are — aren’t happy with the state of affairs in Gaza. According to a survey conducted by the Hebrew outlet Maariv, only 4 percent of the Israelis believe that Israel’s aims in the Gaza genocide were fully achieved despite over 300,000 slaughtered Palestinians and nearly all of the enclave reduced to rubble. Truly a tough bunch to please.
A fourth set of Zionist prisoners of war are set for release in Gaza tomorrow. By the evidence of the last three, there will be a lot to look forward to in this round of handover as well. This masterclass comes free.
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I have written several times in these pages about the anachronistic nature of the Western colonial project in Palestine with the Jewish supremacist state of Israel as its malignant modern manifestation. Colonisation was the West’s raison d’etre before the Second World War; …
EVERY single Palestinian "supposed prisoner" in Israel (not a hostage). According to the white press.
Why do we call Israeli prisoners hostages.........the Zionists have thousands of Palestinian PRISONERS (not hostages).
I watched many videos of the release of Palestinian prisoners. They were dressed in grey/huge clothes. WHY?
IF you look closer these prisoners were emaciated/starved! In this grey 'running attire' covered up their wounds.
I saw one prisoner released: why was he wearing black gloves on his hands? Was he tortured?
Symbolism coming out of Gaza is off the charts.