Netanyahu wants to continue ground offensive despite protests
The accidental killing of the three hostages has led the Israeli population to question the actions of its own army in the Gaza Strip. Pressure is growing on the government to do more to secure the release of the hostages. However, Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to "fight on" until the end.
While the accidental killing of three Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip by its own soldiers continues to stir people up, the government is continuing the war against the Islamist Hamas undeterred. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that the military pressure on Hamas must be maintained. Only in this way could it be defeated and the return of all abductees achieved. "We are more determined than ever to continue to the end, until we have destroyed Hamas and brought back all our abductees," Netanyahu declared.
Meanwhile, released hostages, relatives of hostages and hundreds of supporters demonstrated again on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv for the release of those still abducted in the Gaza Strip. Noam Perry, a relative of a hostage, accused Netanyahu's war cabinet of claiming that military pressure was necessary for the hostages to be released. "In the meantime, more and more hostages are coming back as corpses," said Perry. According to Israeli estimates, 112 hostages are still being held.
Meanwhile, Israel's Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi took responsibility for the accidental killing of the three Israeli hostages. "The army and I as its commander are responsible for what happened and we will do everything we can to prevent such cases from happening again in the future of fighting," he said in a video published on X.
At the same time, he made it clear that people with white flags who want to surrender must not be shot at. Rules of engagement were violated when the hostages were killed on Friday. "The three hostages did everything so that we would recognize them as such - they had taken off their shirts so that we could see that they were not wearing explosive belts, and they were holding a white flag," said Halevi.
At the same time, he pointed out that the soldiers were in an active combat zone. Terrorists are active there in civilian clothes and every decision can make the difference between life and death in a fraction of a second. The only consolation for the families of the fallen soldiers is that their deaths were not in vain, explained Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu according to the newspaper "The Times of Israel". Therefore, "we will ensure that we continue to fight until we achieve total victory", said Netanyahu.
Situation of civilians in Gaza remains unbearable
Meanwhile, the situation of the Palestinian civilian population remains unbearable. The severely damaged largest hospital in Gaza, Shifa, is only "minimally functional" and urgently needs to be able to resume at least the most basic functions "to continue providing life-saving medical care to the thousands of people who need it", the WHO said on Sunday. One of its own teams described the emergency room as a "bloodbath", with new patients arriving every minute.
Only a handful of doctors, a few nurses and 70 volunteers were still working under "incredibly difficult" conditions in the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. The operating theaters are not functioning because there is a lack of fuel, oxygen, specialist staff and supplies. There is also no blood for transfusions, it was said.
US President Joe Biden had called on Israel to show more consideration for the civilian population in the war, which has been going on for more than two months. Following talks with the Israeli leadership, the US government had recently expressed the expectation that Israel would switch from a "high-intensity" military approach to "more targeted" operations. A timeframe for this was not specified.
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Despite ongoing protests against the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu remains more determined than ever to continue the fight against Hamas, vowing to "fight on" until total victory and the return of all abducted Israeli citizens. Despite mounting pressure to secure the release of hostages, Netanyahu's war cabinet insists that military pressure is necessary, as evidenced by the fatal shooting of three hostages in a misunderstanding with Israeli soldiers.
Source: www.ntv.de
