Pressure mounted on Israel’s prime minister Monday to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza after six of them were killed, with US President Joe Biden accusing him of not doing enough to secure a deal.
“No”Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “not doing enough” to reach an agreement for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip: this is what US President Joe Biden responded to journalists.
A response made just before meeting with American negotiators working on the release of the hostages, after the death of six of them, including an Israeli-American. He nevertheless assured that the negotiators were “very close” to be able to announce an agreement within the week.
For his part, Netanyahu asked “pardon” to the families of the six Israeli hostages found dead in Gaza and buried in Israel on Sunday and Monday. Addressing the families of the hostages at a rare news conference, Netanyahu said: “I apologize for not bringing them back alive. We were close but we didn’t succeed.”.
He added that Israel will continue to control the Philadelphia Corridor, a narrow strip of land along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, which was at the heart of the latest ceasefire talks. Hamas demands the complete withdrawal of the Jewish state from this area, while Israel suspects the Islamist movement of receiving its equipment and weapons via tunnels from neighboring countries.
Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrate
More than 700,000 people, equivalent to 7% of the population of the Hebrew state, demonstrated this Sunday, September 1 in several cities of Israel, the largest mobilization gathering around 550,000 people in Tel Aviv, indicated the Forum of Families of the Hostages and the Missing to CNN.
Since 6am on Monday morning, several major cities, including Tel Aviv and Haifa, have announced the closure of their municipal services for the day. Disruptions have also been recorded at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport, where departures have partially resumed after two hours of total interruption. In the localities participating in the movement, public transport, run by private companies, was operating at least partially, while the walkout is being followed unevenly in government services.
The massive protests came just hours after the army announced that six hostages had been found dead in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip. The protesters are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government reach an agreement with Hamas to release the hostages still being held in the Palestinian enclave, nearly 11 months after the October 7 attacks.