Israel, Hamas at War, Day 332 | Biden Says Netanyahu Not Doing Enough to Free Hostages

(Jerusalem) Pressure mounted Monday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza, after the death of six of them, with US President Joe Biden accusing him of not doing enough to reach an agreement to that effect.

The hostages were kidnapped and taken to Gaza in an unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on October 7 in southern Israel that sparked war in the devastated and besieged Palestinian territory, the target of new deadly Israeli strikes.

Almost daily demonstrations in Israeli cities with road blockades, strike in several cities on Monday after a call by the Histadrut trade union center with disruptions at Ben Gurion airport and increasing number of statements calling for Mr. Netanyahu to leave…

Mobilization is intensifying in Israel, especially after the army announced on Sunday that the bodies of six Israeli hostages had been found in a tunnel in southern Gaza. Israel claims that Hamas killed them at “point-blank range,” while the Palestinian movement claims that they were “killed by Israeli gunfire.”

“We want the government [Nétanyahou] “We want elections, and above all we want him to sign an agreement to free the hostages and end this war which is terrible for both sides,” Barak Hadurian, a 56-year-old protester in Tel Aviv, told AFP.

After the deaths of the six hostages, Mr Netanyahu threatened to “settle the score” with Hamas, while he has repeatedly said he would continue the war until the destruction of Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007 and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Despite international pressure and fears of a regional military escalation linked to the war in Gaza, months of negotiations to reach an agreement on a truce and the release of hostages have not succeeded, with the belligerents accusing each other of blocking them.

“I regret that we failed to protect Hersh on that dark day. How sorry I am that we failed to bring him home,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said at the funeral of Israeli-American Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the six hostages found dead.

“Hersh, I need you to help us stay strong, to help us survive,” his mother, Rachel, told the crowd.

” No ”

The United States, Israel’s main ally, is also increasing the pressure.

Arriving at the White House to meet with American negotiators who took part in the fruitless talks of recent months, Joe Biden answered “no” to a question from the press asking him whether Mr. Netanyahu was “doing enough” to obtain an agreement on the release of the hostages.

For its part, the United Kingdom announced that it was suspending around thirty arms export licenses to Israel out of a total of 350, citing a “risk” that these weapons would be used in violation of international law in Gaza.

The United States, along with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, have been pushing for months for a ceasefire in Gaza and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

Until now, a single one-week truce at the end of November had allowed the release of around a hundred hostages.

Anti-polio campaign in Gaza

The attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day and taken to Gaza, 97 are still being held there, including 33 declared dead by the army.

In retaliation, Israel launched a major air and land offensive in Gaza that has so far killed at least 40,786 people, according to Hamas’s health ministry. The majority of the dead are women and minors, according to the UN.

The offensive caused a humanitarian and health disaster and the displacement of almost all of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the small, poor territory.

During three-day “humanitarian pauses” from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., an anti-polio campaign was launched Sunday in areas of central Gaza with the aim of vaccinating more than 640,000 children under the age of ten, after the first case of the disease.

Meanwhile, Israeli bombings continue elsewhere in the territory, in Gaza City (North) where at least two Palestinians have been killed and in Nousseirat (center) in particular, according to the civil defense.

In the West Bank, a Palestinian territory separated from the Gaza Strip and occupied by Israel since 1967, the Israeli army continues its large-scale operation in Jenin, where at least 26 Palestinians, mainly fighters, have been killed since Wednesday, according to local Palestinian authorities. All were “terrorists” according to the army.