Photo: Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu/Getty Images.
Anger reached a boiling point at a protest in Tel Aviv on Thursday, with protesters demanding the signing of a deal to free Israeli hostages in Gaza and expressing grief over the bodies of six hostages returned home this week.
The fate of the hostages has raised fears that more Israeli hostages will return home alive, said one protester. "We need to bring those who are alive back home," said Daniel, 48, adding that continuing the war while ceasefire and hostage swap negotiations continue to fail "will only bring more coffins to both sides".
There has been no official statement explaining the cause of death of the six hostages.
On Thursday, the IDF said that initial forensic examinations showed that six hostages had been shot, but it was not yet possible to determine whether these injuries were the cause of death. The IDF also stressed that the findings were preliminary.
The IDF said four other bodies were discovered next to the bodies of the six hostages, believed to be the four Hamas members holding the hostages, but there was no indication that the four bodies had been shot.
The IDF made no accusations against the shooter.
However, outside the Israeli Defense Ministry, Mr. Daniel said the IDF's statement that all six hostages had been shot further demonstrated the potential dangers of rescue operations using force.
Israeli media outlet Ynet reported on Tuesday that the IDF's initial assessment was that the hostages may have died of suffocation after the IDF attacked a nearby Hamas target and carbon dioxide gas entered the tunnel where the hostages were being held.
Asked at a press conference on Tuesday about the possibility that the IDF may have killed the hostages, spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari did not confirm whether the hostages were killed as a result of Israeli military operations. Instead, Hagari referred to a statement he made in June, saying that “the hostages were killed during our operations in Khan Younis.”
Urgent and chaotic
The deaths sparked a rush toward a ceasefire among protesters in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Omer, 46, who came to the protest with his two daughters, said he believed the six hostages “could have been saved much earlier”. He accused the Israeli government of repeatedly delaying the signing of the deal with Hamas, a decision he warned would only make Israel pay a greater price for a deal that could have been signed sooner.
The ceasefire will also bring relief to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in the enclave where Israel continues its military campaign. In July, the US government estimated that as many as 1.9 million people in Gaza may have been forced to flee, nearly the entire population of Gaza.
In the face of new Israeli evacuation orders, the IDF’s “humanitarian zones” in Gaza have steadily shrunk. In the past month alone, the IDF has reduced the area by 38% – with the remaining area representing just one-tenth of Gaza’s total area, according to a CNN analysis.
At least 22 Palestinians were killed in southern Gaza on Thursday, including a child and four women, said Dr. Mohammad Saqer of Nasser Hospital. An Israeli airstrike on a house in Bani Suhaila east of Khan Younis killed at least five members of one family, according to several family members.
Hamza Abu Shab, a relative of the victims, said the family tried to follow IDF orders. However, the airstrike was carried out before they reached the humanitarian area, killing several family members, including his father.
There are now widespread doubts in the Israeli public about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s willingness to sign the Gaza deal, especially given the fierce opposition from far-right ministers in his coalition government. The Israeli prime minister’s political future depends largely on his far-right coalition partners – many of whom have threatened to resign, leading to the collapse of his government, if he signs the deal.
"Hamas may have kidnapped them (the hostages), but the person we can accuse of killing them is Benjamin Netanyahu," Omer said, insisting that the prime minister was "the only one responsible."
An organization representing the families of the Israeli hostages, the Forum for Families of Hostage and Missing Persons, said in a statement on Thursday that the forensic examinations that found bullet wounds were "evidence of the brutality of the terrorists" holding the hostages.
The forum also criticized the Israeli government, asserting that the recovery of the bodies was "not an achievement".
"This is evidence of the complete failure of efforts to reach a timely agreement, as six hostages who should have returned home alive are now back in coffins."
The bodies recovered were identified by Israeli officials on Thursday as Yoram Metzger, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Chaim Peri, Nadav Popplewell and Yagev Buchshtab. In addition to Munder, other hostages have been declared dead in recent months.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the IDF and ISA entered Hamas tunnels in a "complex operation" to recover the bodies.
Munder was kidnapped along with his wife, daughter and grandson, and they were released during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas in November 2023. Munder's son, Roee, was killed in the attack.
Ohad Munder, 9, told Kan 11 television on Tuesday that the deaths of his grandfather and other hostages "should never have happened".
“There were many negotiations to sign a ceasefire agreement… but they said ‘no’ – and in the end they didn’t want to sign it, they always regretted it at the last minute,” Ohad said. “All the hostages could have been freed and alive from the first day. They could have brought their grandfather and the other hostages back.”
There are still 109 hostages being held in Gaza, including 36 who are believed to have died, according to data from the Israeli Government Press Office.
Nguyen Quang Minh (according to CNN)
Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/hang-loat-cau-hoi-duoc-dat-ra-ve-nhung-vet-dan-tren-thi-the-cac-con-tin-tu-gaza-204240823084617742.htm
Comment (0)