Hostages’ families heckle Netanyahu as he warns Israel ‘expanding’ Gaza fight

[CharlieH]

 

Israeli prime minister facing domestic pressure to bring home the more than 100 hostages thought still held by Hamas in Gaza

 

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said the offensive in Gaza “isn’t close to finished”, as he faces heavy domestic pressure to reach a deal to bring home the more than 100 Israeli hostages thought to remain in captivity in Gaza.

“We are expanding the fight in the coming days and this will be a long battle,” Netanyahu said after visiting Gaza on Monday, according to a statement from his Likud party.

 

As he vowed to continue the war during a speech in parliament, relatives of the hostages interrupted him and called for their immediate return. “Now! Now!” they shouted.

Families who have been awaiting their loved ones’ return after 80 days in captivity booed the prime minister, as Netanyahu said Israeli forces needed “more time” to increase military pressure on Hamas, which he argued would help to secure the captives’ release.

Later, protesters gathered near the defence ministry headquarters in central Tel Aviv before a war cabinet meeting, holding posters demanding “Free our hostages now – at any cost!”

On Monday, the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said Israel needed to “bring the hostages home now”, adding: “We are not doing enough.” His comments were met with applause from the families of hostages.

 

FULL STORY

[Bkk Brian]

Hamas refused a ceasefire proposal for a further hostage/prisoner exchange 5 days ago, its a pity The Guardian didn't mention that for context.

 

Hamas said to reject Israeli offer for 7-day truce in Gaza, release of 40 hostages

Hamas has rejected an Israeli proposal for a week-long truce in the Gaza Strip in return for the release of some 40 hostages, including all women and children the terror group still holds, according to a report Wednesday.

Citing Egyptian officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that under the rejected proposal, Hamas would also free elderly male hostages who require urgent medical care. In exchange, Israel would halt air and ground operations in Gaza for a week and allow increased aid into the coastal territory.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-said-to-reject-israeli-offer-for-7-day-truce-in-gaza-release-of-40-hostages/

 

 

[xylophone]

4 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Hamas refused a ceasefire proposal for a further hostage/prisoner exchange 5 days ago, its a pity The Guardian didn't mention that for context.

 

Hamas said to reject Israeli offer for 7-day truce in Gaza, release of 40 hostages

Hamas has rejected an Israeli proposal for a week-long truce in the Gaza Strip in return for the release of some 40 hostages, including all women and children the terror group still holds, according to a report Wednesday.

Citing Egyptian officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that under the rejected proposal, Hamas would also free elderly male hostages who require urgent medical care. In exchange, Israel would halt air and ground operations in Gaza for a week and allow increased aid into the coastal territory.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-said-to-reject-israeli-offer-for-7-day-truce-in-gaza-release-of-40-hostages/

 

 

And I thought this response from a senior Hamas official was particularly galling, given that they started this war........... 

 

"Izzat Rishq, a senior Hamas official who is believed to be based in Qatar, issued a statement repeating the group’s position that it will not negotiate without a “complete end to the aggression”.

“Our people want to stop the aggression, and are not waiting for a temporary or partial truce for a short period of time that will be followed by more aggression and terrorism,” he said.

There was also an outcry of the recent bombing by Israel which killed over one hundred people in a Gaza "refugee camp", but what was omitted was the fact that rockets had been fired at Israel from this particular camp just a few days earlier, so Hamas are continuing their despicable tactic of mingling and hiding amongst Palestinians, using them as shields to attack Israel, something they've done since time immemorial.

 

It's obvious that the Israeli officials have been trained by "media experts" when they answer questions put to them by the BBC world News reporters, and I personally think that this is a good thing because a basic underlying tenet of this media training is; "always get YOUR point across, irrespective of the question asked", which the Israeli officials do very well, much to the chagrin of the BBC.

 

However on a couple of occasions they've missed the ideal opportunity to state that the war could come to an end immediately if Hamas surrendered and gave up their arms, which the Israelis have proposed.

 

[Morch]

Israel went into this war with two official goals:

 

(a) Dismantle (or whatever you want to call it) Hamas power in the Gaza Strip.

(b) Release the hostages.

 

It was pointed out from the start, that these goals, while not exactly mutually exclusive, do run on different tracks and are likely to collide. While that's a fair observation, I'm not exactly sure what viable alternatives were on offer.

 

Some opined that Israel should have opted for a hostage release deal first, go to war later. Maybe. But that would have meant months of nothing going on, just on the heels of the 7/10 attack - which would have been hard to stomach, and could very possibly have led to other parties trying to have a go as well. Global support for a delayed war would have been much lower, seeing as internationally it would have looked like that the issue was resolved.

 

I totally get the families' point of view. Part of the Israeli ethos is that no one gets left behind, and that the government is held responsible for such things. So for some, the current policy, actions can be construed as an unraveling of what Israel is.

 

People sometimes fantasize about being heads of state, or in various positions of power. It is such situations as this that bring home realizations about not having all the answers, or that maybe there are no perfect answers.

[Nick Carter icp]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

"Izzat Rishq, a senior Hamas official who is believed to be based in Qatar, issued a statement repeating the group’s position that it will not negotiate without a “complete end to the aggression”.

“Our people want to stop the aggression, and are not waiting for a temporary or partial truce for a short period of time that will be followed by more aggression and terrorism,” he said.

 

 

   When will he be facing justice for war crimes and mass murder ?

He is a criminal and needs to face a trial for his crimes and his sentence could well be execution 

He shouldnt be allowed to get away with it 

[Rimmer]

A post linking and quoting from a highly questionable source has been removed

[thaibeachlovers]

14 hours ago, xylophone said:

However on a couple of occasions they've missed the ideal opportunity to state that the war could come to an end immediately if Hamas surrendered and gave up their arms, which the Israelis have proposed.

Even if they might have thought about that in the past, after the 3 unarmed israelis under a white flag were shot dead as they were mistaken for Palestinians, I very much doubt that any Hamas trusts the israelis enough to surrender to them.

Even if they were not killed straight away, they know what awaits them in the "interrogation" rooms and death is preferable to that.

The evidence of torture was visible on Gazans that had been released by the israelis on the vdos shown by Al Jazeera, and they were not even Hamas.

IMO the only thing that might possibly convince them to surrender, would be to a country not israel, Britain, Germany or America and exile in a safe ( to them ) country

[thaibeachlovers]

14 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said the offensive in Gaza “isn’t close to finished”, as he faces heavy domestic pressure to reach a deal to bring home the more than 100 Israeli hostages thought to remain in captivity in Gaza.

IMO he is the only one that wants the conflict to carry on as long as possible, given he has to know his time as PM is probably not going to last long after it ends, and he does have those court cases that will happen then.

[Morch]

10 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Even if they might have thought about that in the past, after the 3 unarmed israelis under a white flag were shot dead as they were mistaken for Palestinians, I very much doubt that any Hamas trusts the israelis enough to surrender to them.

Even if they were not killed straight away, they know what awaits them in the "interrogation" rooms and death is preferable to that.

The evidence of torture was visible on Gazans that had been released by the israelis on the vdos shown by Al Jazeera, and they were not even Hamas.

IMO the only thing that might possibly convince them to surrender, would be to a country not israel, Britain, Germany or America and exile in a safe ( to them ) country

 

@thaibeachlovers

 

That would be you alleging things (claiming AJ without links, as usual).

 

Also nice to see the ease with which you slip into Hamas spokesperson mode. The fact is that there Hamas surrendering each day. When it comes down to it not everyone signs up for your heroic armchair general pronouncements.

 

As for your last bit, sure - are there many countries standing in line to play host for terrorists?

[Morch]

10 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO he is the only one that wants the conflict to carry on as long as possible, given he has to know his time as PM is probably not going to last long after it ends, and he does have those court cases that will happen then.

 

@thaibeachlovers

 

Sinwar doesn't seem to be in a hurry to end this either. Maybe he realizes that there will be a political (at the very least) price to pay.