The hostage deal between Israel and Hamas partially fell apart last week because Hamas wanted to prevent the remaining Israeli women it holds in Gaza from talking about their time in custody, US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Monday. “It seems one of the reasons they don’t want to turn women over that they have been holding hostage and the reason this pause fell apart is that they do not want these women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody,” Miller said during an emotional moment in the press conference.
Many women and children still hostage in Gaza
Miller spoke four days after a week-long pause in the Gaza war ended on December 1. That deal allowed for Hamas to release 81 of the 240 captives it had seized during its October 7 infiltration into southern Israel in which it also killed over 1,200 people.
Some 17 to 20 women and children are among the remaining hostages in Gaza, with the US and Israel charging that Hamas violated that deal. Some eight of those captives also hold US citizenship.
Miller defended the resumption of Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza that began after the October 7 attack. He blamed Hamas for the war and said that more people should call for the terror group to lay down its arms.
“It is Hamas that is putting [Palestinian] civilians in harm's way. I am surprised that I do not hear more people say why doesn’t Hamas move out of schools? why doesn’t Hamas take additional steps to protect civilians? Because we think they should as we think Israel should.“We would welcome Hamas laying down its arms at any point,” he added. “They could do it today if they cared about Palestinian civilian life.”Miller also called on Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, as Hamas asserted that close to 16,000 Palestinians have been killed in war-related violence.The United States is watching IDF actions in Gaza “very closely,” Miller said as he explained that there were differences between Israel’s military campaign that resumed on December 1 and the one that ended on November 24. “Too many Palestinians were killed in the opening weeks of the conflict, “ Miller said.“We have seen a more targeted request for evacuations” by Israel so that the army is focused on clearing specific points rather than asking an entire city to evacuate, Miller said.