It is expected that in the post-Gaza era, Israel will move to hold Iran accountable (along with its terrorist militia arms in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq) for its responsibility in supporting and financing the terrorists’ weapons that have been attacking Israel and the United States since last October 7.

Holding Iran accountable

There are successive and remarkably intense media leaks circulating in several reports regarding the parameters of Iran’s responsibility for the decision by the Hamas terrorist movement to launch attacks against Israel, on October 7.

These leaks began with a report on the content of the meeting between Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Ismail Haniyeh, chairman of Hamas’s politburo – in Tehran in the first week of November.

The report stated that Khamenei informed Haniyeh that Iran would not interfere in the conflict since Hamas had not informed in advance of its decision to attack Israel – a report that Iran and Hamas denied completely.

The Hamas terrorist movement said, in a statement published on Telegram: “Commenting on what was reported by Reuters news agency about Ismail Haniyeh’s meeting with Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, we deny the validity of what was stated in this report, and we regret publishing the news. It has no basis, and we call on the agency to investigate accuracy,” he said, without mentioning any other details.

The agency had quoted what it called three “senior” officials from Iran and Hamas as saying that when they met, the Iranian leader transmitted a clear message to Haniyeh, to the effect that since Hamas had not informed Tehran in advance of the attack of October 7, Iran would not enter the war on behalf of Hamas.

Media reports also mentioned that the blame directed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was aimed at Hezbollah and included Iran – when he said, in mid-October, that “Hezbollah thankfully took steps, but my assessment is that the battle requires more, and what is happening is okay, but it is not enough,” and that he believed what was required was more than a “flood,” and that history was not about “limited, timid, hesitant steps,” but rather about “thought-out adventures.”

This story is part of a series that questions Iran’s responsibility for the Hamas terrorist attack. There are several important American media sources that also quoted officials from Iran and Hezbollah saying that the Hamas attack was a surprise to them and that they had no prior knowledge of this attack, as the movement concealed the details of the timing, size, and target.

All of these simultaneous narratives are in the interest of several parties, the first of which, of course, is Iran and Hezbollah, which want to be content with media and propaganda appearances in the Gaza conflict scene without paying a strategic cost. That may lead to the destruction of the party’s capabilities, and expose the Iranian regime to a strong Israeli strike in light of American-European green.

The second of these parties is the United States, which does not want to hold Iran responsible for the Hamas decision because it is in its tactical interest to keep Iran away from responsibility for this decision. Linking Tehran to the attack on Israel would mean closing the curtain on reviving the Iranian nuclear agreement once and for all.

In addition, the current American administration is exposed to Republican pressure from within, as well as from Israel to retaliate against Iran or at least deal with it more strictly; or give Israel the green light to launch a retaliatory strike to deter its support for terrorism and organizations that threaten Israel’s security.

The conclusion is that the interests of Iran and the United States converge upon the idea of undermining Tehran’s responsibility for Hamas’s decision to attack Israel, and therefore it is likely that the leak reported by Reuters is true, and that it was intentional on the Iranian side. The reality is that it is very difficult for the decision to attack the terrorist movement Hamas to have been made in isolation from Iran and Hezbollah.

We remember the statement of Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad to the BBC, days after Hamas’s attack on Israel: “I am proud,” regarding the amount of support the terrorist movement had received from Iran to carry out this operation. “There are countries that help us. Iran helps us, whether with money, weapons, or political support, there is no harm in us doing that.”

At the very least, incitement and encouragement by Tehran and Hezbollah for the terrorist movement Hamas to carry out the attack is consistent with expectations. The attack was timed in Iran’s interest, at the height of talks for imminent normalization between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The conversation has now been postponed indefinitely. Riyadh, with all its spiritual, religious, political, and strategic weight, finds it difficult to adopt the step of normalizing relations with Israel under the current circumstances.

My conviction is that Iran has begun a journey of intensifying its efforts to evade direct responsibility for Hamas’s decision, in light of the destruction it is witnessing in the Gaza Strip and the collapse of the Palestinian cause and the terrorist Hamas movement.

Iran did not want to bear responsibility for the wrong decision and chose to sacrifice Hamas to preserve what remained of its terrorist militia arms, which could be exposed to subsequent intense military strikes if Iran was proven responsible for the attacks that Israel was subjected to over the past period.

The writer is a UAE political analyst and former Federal National Council candidate.

This claim is not the first of its kind; in the days immediately following the October 7th attacks, videos from Hamas’s Telegram channel showed child hostages being kept in cages for the majority of their time in captivity.

Hamas distributed a letter on Monday allegedly written by Danielle Aloni, was was kidnapped alongside her 5-year-old daughter Emilia and held in captivity. In the letter, written in Hebrew and translated into Arabic, she reportedly thanked Hamas for the “extraordinary humanity” provided to her daughter, who “felt like a queen.”

The letter also read, “I will forever be a prisoner of love because [Emilia] did not leave here with psychological trauma forever.” The Aloni family has not confirmed this letter nor the statements made in it, though widely distributed on social media by the Hamas terror organization.

This letter is one of many that hostages were forced to write, according to Israeli media reports.

Supplies running low

Merav Mor Munder, the cousin of Keren Munder who was released on Friday, told N12 “There were days when there were no supplies, so they only ate pita bread. They were not tortured, but there were days when they barely had any food, in the last few days they only ate very little rice.

She says how one of the hostages, Hannah Katzir, who was also released, learned of her son’s murder on one of the few occasions they would be permitted to listen to Israeli radio. It was upon her own release that she learned of how her husband had also been kidnapped and remained in Gaza.

Some of the hostages spoke of their worry about last-minute attempts by Hamas or Gazans, who had thrown stones at the vehicle taking them to Egypt, to attack them before they got home.  “Until the last moment we weren’t sure,” a hostage said: “We thought they would lynch us on the way to Israel.”

Sinwar visits hostages in tunnels

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the man behind the planning of the October 7 massacre, spoke to Israeli hostages while they were held in Gaza, one Israeli who was released from captivity this week told her family, Israeli media reported on Monday evening.

Sinwar allegedly arrived in a tunnel where she and other hostages were being held, checked how they are, and told them in fluent Hebrew that they would not be harmed.

Israel’s Channel 12 claims that this report was verified by her investigators in Israel’s security systems.

Current concerns among Israel’s defense and military analysts relate to Sinwar’s plans for the rest of this war – namely, the exploitation of the humanitarian crisis among Palestinian civilians in order to advance Hamas’s terror goals.

Neglect at the hands of the Red Cross

After Elma Avraham, 84, was returned to Israeli custody, she was immediately airlifted for emergency medical care. Her family claimed that she was “medically neglected” by international medical organizations that failed to provide her with the immediate medical treatment she required at the time.

“My mother did not deserve to be treated like this” stated Elma’s daughter, Tal Amano.

According to Amano, her mother was the victim of a “double betrayal that began on October 7 when she was kidnapped by Hamas, and continued with the failure of international organizations that were supposed to help her in the condition that she was in at the time of her release.”

Prior to her kidnapping on October 7, Elma was in relatively good health. However, she did have some underlying health issues that required medication.

“No one from the international organizations bothered to create a list with the medications she required,” her daughter continued.

“Clalit [an Israeli medical health fund] was the one who fought for us. It delivered the medication that Elma required to my brother in person. Yet, when my brother attempted to pass on the medication to a Red Cross representative at a meeting they held together, he was told no, they cannot do that.”

Elma’s family returned to the Red Cross building a few days after and were once again rejected.

“My mother should not have come back like this. What is the Red Cross there for? What is the UN Women organization for?” Tal demanded to know.

Dr. Nadav Davidovitz, who is currently treating Elma, said “We were in meetings with the Red Cross and asked them to make every effort to bring the medications to her, because some hostages are just dying. From a medical and nursing standpoint, what we witnessed is unlawful neglect.”

Keshet Neev and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.