Israeli protesters interrupted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at a memorial for victims of the October 7 attack as Gaza ceasefire talks resumed in Doha, Qatar.
Netanyahu stood motionless at a podium during Sunday’s ceremony as crowd members shouted, interrupting him for more than a minute, according to a live broadcast of the speech. Some people shouted “Shame on you” and caused a commotion, forcing Netanyahu to interrupt his speech shortly after it began.
One of the demonstrators shouted several times: “My father has been killed. »
According to a report in The Times of Israel, the commemoration was initially not supposed to include speeches from bereaved family members, for fear that they would criticize the Israeli government. But amid protests, family members were allowed to give their speeches at the ceremony.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during attacks by Hamas on October 7, and more than 200 were captured. Nearly 100 captives remain in Gaza.
Public and diplomatic pressure has intensified on Netanyahu’s administration to do more to reach a deal guaranteeing the release of captives still held in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday proposed a two-day truce in Gaza to allow the exchange of four Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners.
El-Sissi made the announcement as efforts to end the devastating, more than year-old war on Gaza resumed in the Qatari capital, Doha, with the participation of the directors of the CIA and the intelligence agency Israeli Mossad.
Speaking alongside Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at a news conference in Cairo, el-Sissi also said talks should resume within 10 days of the truce being implemented with the aim of reaching a permanent ceasefire.
The families of the remaining prisoners, along with several Western leaders, have called on the Israeli government to broker a deal following the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar earlier this month.
Reporting from Doha, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Osama bin Javaid said Sinwar’s death provided a new opportunity for ceasefire talks, but in reality “both sides are stubborn.”
“Hamas claims that removing its leaders does not take away what it is fighting for, which, in its own words, is an ‘illegal occupation,’” he said.
Netanyahu accused of obstructing truce efforts
Meanwhile, critics in Israel have accused Netanyahu of obstructing mediation for a truce and agreement to free the 97 captives still held by armed groups in Gaza. The Israeli army says 34 of them died.
Netanyahu rejected ceasefire proposals, including one from the Biden administration in May, and approved the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader then engaged in negotiations, in Tehran. Hamas seeks to end the war and withdraw Israeli forces from Gaza, which has been ravaged by more than a year of relentless Israeli bombardment. More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023.
Israel’s far-right administration has pushed for a military solution, opening a new front after launching a ground offensive in southern Lebanon against the armed group Hezbollah.
In another speech Sunday, marking the anniversary in the Hebrew calendar of the Hamas attack, which last October 7 sparked the ongoing war against Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the military action by itself will not achieve the country’s war objectives, which include Welcoming Captives.
“Not all objectives can be achieved through military operations alone… To realize our moral duty to bring our hostages home, we will have to make painful concessions,” Gallant said.
