Photo: Jack Guez Agence France-Presse Demonstrations bringing together thousands of people took place in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, accompanied by a strike in several cities to demand an agreement allowing the release of dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.
Published at 10:33
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that he will not bow to pressure to reach a deal to free Gaza hostages, saying he wants to maintain military pressure on Palestinian Hamas in the 11th month of the war.
The hostages were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 against Israel, which led to Israeli reprisals that left tens of thousands dead in the besieged Palestinian territory, which was the target of new deadly strikes on Tuesday.
It was the announcement Sunday by the Israeli army of the discovery in a Gaza tunnel of the bodies of six hostages killed according to it at “point-blank range” by Hamas, which increased the pressure on Mr. Netanyahu and amplified the mobilization in Israel.
Demonstrations bringing together thousands of people took place in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, accompanied by a strike in several cities to demand an agreement allowing the release of the dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.
After publicly asking for “forgiveness for not bringing back alive” the six hostages found dead, Mr. Netanyahu accused Hamas on Monday evening of having “executed” them with a “bullet in the back of the head” and vowed to make the Islamist movement pay “a very high price.”
“I will not give in to pressure,” he hammered home. “No one is more committed than I am to the release of the hostages. […] Now we must exert maximum pressure on Hamas,” which “must make concessions.”
In this context, Mr. Netanyahu reaffirmed the need for Israel to maintain control of a corridor along the border between Gaza and Egypt, a sticking point in the negotiations under the aegis of the mediators – the United States, Qatar, Egypt – with a view to a truce agreement associated with the release of hostages.
“Control of the Philadelphia corridor ensures that the hostages would not be smuggled out of Gaza,” Netanyahu argued.
Hamas is demanding an Israeli withdrawal from the corridor, which Israeli forces seized last May, and ultimately a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000On Monday evening, Hamas's military-branch spokesman, Abu Obeida, warned that the hostages still held in Gaza would be sent back “in coffins” if Israel continued its military pressure “instead of reaching an agreement.”
A Hamas official had previously claimed that the six hostages had “been killed by gunfire” Israelis”.
Mr Netanyahu “wants to occupy Gaza indefinitely… Israel will never give back territory that it needs for its security,” Mairav Zonszein, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, told AFP on Tuesday. “He has basically announced that there will never be a deal on hostages.” »
« There is a huge opposition » in Israel to Mr Netanyahu « but there is no one in the political sphere who can challenge him, » she added.
For the left-wing daily Haaretz, « Netanyahu is trying to maintain his coalition (including the far right), which could collapse in the event of a Gaza deal. »
US President Joe Biden, whose country is Israel’s main ally, has himself criticized the Israeli prime minister for not doing enough to secure a deal on the hostages.
Mr Netanyahu says he wants to continue the war until the destruction of Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007 and is considered a terrorist movement by the United States and the European Union.
The attack carried out by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7 resulted in the death of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 97 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 declared dead by the army.
In response, Israel launched a major air and land offensive in Gaza that has so far killed at least 40,819 people, according to the Hamas Health Ministry, and caused a humanitarian and health disaster and the displacement of nearly all of the city’s 2.4 million residents. The majority of the dead have been women and minors, according to the UN.
Taking advantage of three-day “humanitarian pauses,” an anti-polio campaign was launched Sunday in central Gaza with the aim of vaccinating more than 640,000 children under the age of 10 across the territory.
The campaign is going “well,” said Rik Peeperkorn, a World Health Organization official. The total number of children under the age of ten vaccinated so far stands at 161,000, he said.
There are still “at least 10 days” left for this first round of vaccination, Peeperkorn continued. The campaign is expected to move to the south of the territory on Thursday with the aim of vaccinating some 340,000 children and then to the north to vaccinate another 150,000.
Meanwhile, the Israeli offensive in Gaza continues unabated.
In the south, two Palestinians were killed when a shell hit a tent for displaced people in Khan Younis, according to the civil defense. In the center, a strike targeted a house near Al-Bureij and artillery fire targeted Nusseirat and in the north, troops blew up residential buildings in Gaza City, according to witnesses.
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