TNetanyahu wants to continue exerting "military pressure" on Hamas
Since the accidental shooting of three hostages by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip on Friday, appeals to the Israeli government to work towards the release of the kidnapped hostages have become even more urgent. "We are receiving dead hostages again and again," said Noam Perry, whose father Haim Perry is still in the hands of Hamas, on Saturday.
She called on the Israeli government to immediately present a plan for negotiations on the release. "Our demand is not a fight (with the government), it is a call that anyone would launch if it were their own father. Consider us and present a plan (for negotiations) now," Perry said at a Forum for Hostages and Missing Families event in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu said he was "heartbroken" by the accidental killing of the three hostages. This incident "broke the heart of the entire nation". However, the Prime Minister also emphasized that "military pressure" on Hamas was necessary for negotiations to achieve anything. The instructions he was giving the Israeli negotiating team were "based on this pressure, and without it we have nothing".
Netanyahu did not speak specifically about possible new negotiations with Hamas. However, media reports stated that after the accidental killing of the three hostages, the Israeli government was turning back to the path of negotiations.
The news portal "Axios" reported on a meeting planned for this weekend in Europe between the Israeli Mossad intelligence director David Barnea and the Qatari head of government Mohammed ben Abdelrahmane Al-Thani. The meeting is said to be about a second ceasefire for the release of hostages.
As part of a ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas, around one hundred hostages were released over the course of a week at the end of November. In return, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from the prisons. The agreement was brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the USA. According to Israeli information, 129 hostages are still being held by Hamas.
The accidental killing of three hostages has caused horror in Israel. Initial investigations revealed that the three men, aged between 25 and 28, had appeared "a few dozen meters" from an Israeli army position in the north of the Gaza Strip. According to the army, they approached the soldiers with a makeshift white flag, which the latter perceived as a threat. They then opened fire on the three men.
The war between Israel and Hamas has now been going on for ten weeks. Hundreds of fighters from Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the USA, invaded Israeli towns on 7 October and committed atrocities against civilians. According to Israeli reports, more than 1130 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
In response, the Israeli army has since bombed targets in the Gaza Strip and launched a ground offensive. According to the latest figures from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, around 18,800 people have been killed so far.
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Source: www.stern.de
