“Agreement now!” Thousands of Israelis shouted this Saturday in a demonstration in Tel Aviv in favor of a ceasefire so that those kidnapped in the hands of the fundamentalist group Hamas can be released. Their families’ fear is that as the war continues, the chances of them returning as corpses increase.
Their sense of urgency has multiplied following the death this Friday of three Israeli hostages after being mistakenly shot by soldiers during fighting in the Gazan area of Shujaiya. And with more urgency, more pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet to present an initiative before the mediation that returns 129 people who are still in captivity of the more than 240 who were kidnapped in kibbutzim, cities and the music festival on the 7th. October in the Hamas attack that gave way to Israel’s largest offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The devastating war reaches its 72nd day this Sunday with combats and bombings and the meeting, held on Friday night in Oslo, between the Qatari Prime Minister Mohamed bin Abdulrahamn Al Thani and the head of Mossad, David Barnea, to reactivate the road negotiator towards a war pause in exchange for hostages. The meeting of the war cabinet gathered at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense located right in front of the demonstration in Tel Aviv dealt with all of this. As a form of pressure, some families announced that from now on they would sleep in front of the emblematic complex where Israel makes decisions about the war and hostages.
The death of Yotam Haim (28) and Alon Shamriz (26) – kidnapped in the Kfar Aza kibbutz – and Samer Talalka (22) in the Nir Am kibbutz, after being mistakenly shot dead by Israeli soldiers deployed in Gaza among other reasons to rescue them, It is a turning point. The first conclusions of the investigation have shocked Israelis as much as his own death. After managing to escape from their captors in Shujaiya, Haim, Shamriz and Talalka, without shirts and carrying an improvised white flag, approached soldiers thinking that they were, after 70 long days, one step away from their freedom. But a sniper, who felt “threatened,” shouted “terrorists” and shot two of them. The third fled into a building but was also shot down. Minutes later, they realized the deadly mistake.
“The forces have been under pressure for many days and faced with terrorists who are also dressed in civilian clothes, in jeans and sneakers, with ambushes and attempts at deception, such as yelling in Hebrew at the soldiers who are hostages as bait,” military sources indicate about the three soldiers who made a mistake in identifying themselves and failed to comply with the rules of opening fire. Hamas accused the Army of “intentionally executing the hostages” and clarified that none will be released without Israel putting an end, not temporarily but definitively, to its attacks on the Gaza Strip.
“We are not looking for culprits,” Talalka’s cousin Ala said before his funeral that brought together the Israeli Bedouin community in Hura. “The announcement of Samer’s death came on his mother’s birthday. The consolation is that if she escaped from captivity for a few minutes, then she felt free,” he added.
As soon as the Army’s announcement was made known on Friday night, families of those kidnapped blocked a central street in Tel Aviv. The next day and in a more organized but equally desperate manner, thousands demonstrated to demand that his cabinet prioritize the objective of the return of the kidnapped people over ending Hamas. The more than 110 civilians released to date did so thanks to an agreement while only one young woman was rescued in a military operation.
“Military pressure is necessary both for the return of the hostages and to achieve victory over our enemies. Without military pressure, we would not have been able to develop a plan that would result in the release of 110 hostages,” Netanyahu said in a conference press in which on the one hand he did not rule out new negotiations and on the other he assured that it is a “war for our existence” that must continue until “we end Hamas.”
“I don’t want to imagine the pain of the soldiers who made a mistake when they risked their lives to save our people. My message is to the Government to tell them that what happened is proof that the operation endangers the kidnapped people,” said Merav Svirsky. , whose brother was kidnapped and his parents murdered at Kibbutz Beeri.
“I was released after 54 days of captivity but my husband Ohad is still there. Every minute that passes is critical to saving their lives. Israel must take the initiative for a new agreement,” Raz Ben Ami demanded. We spoke with his daughter Yulie after the kidnapping of her parents in Kibbutz Beeri. “Mom is here but her health worsened since she did not receive her medicines, she did not eat much and she had a very bad time,” she now reveals to EL MUNDO, explaining that when she returned “she was especially happy since she did not know if my two sisters and I were alive.” “My father will turn 55 on December 24 and I hope he is here to celebrate with us,” she concludes.
More than two weeks after the resumption of the Israeli military offensive, fighting and bombing remains focused on the north (Jabalia and Shujaiya) and south of Gaza (Khan Yunis) while the humanitarian situation deteriorates in an enclave of 2.3 million of inhabitants in which more than two thirds are internally displaced and the level of destruction is unprecedented.