10/9/2024–|Last update: 10/9/202411:50 PM (Makkah Time)
The Israeli army radio quoted the family of the slain Israeli hostage, Carmel Gat, whose body was found in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, as saying that “the killing of the hostages was due to military pressure and because of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said no to the deal.”
“We have failed as a state, we have failed as a society,” Dickman, 32, a relative of the victim, told Reuters outside the Israeli Knesset, where he was taking part in a rally calling on members to push for a deal to secure the release of the detainees.
Israeli forces recovered the bodies of Gat and five other captives held by Hamas on September 1, sparking mass protests by Israelis demanding a deal to return the remaining detainees.
Hamas held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for the deaths of the six prisoners by insisting on continuing the war and not concluding a prisoner exchange deal.
Last week, the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, broadcast the last messages of the six Israeli prisoners before they were killed, in which they held Netanyahu responsible for their capture and their lives, and made urgent demands to conclude a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
Many Israeli prisoners held by Hamas were killed in air strikes by the occupation forces on the Strip.
According to Israeli estimates, Hamas still holds about 100 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, while the movement has not officially announced their number.
Hamas links the release of these prisoners to the cessation of the war and the occupation’s withdrawal from the Strip, in addition to a prisoner exchange deal that includes the release of Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons.
