- By Radha Basnet
- Sun, 17 Dec 2023 07:45 AM (IST)
- Source:AFP
Israel-Hamas War: After three hostages were killed by friendly fire on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the military pressure on Hamas. This comes despite anguished appeals from relatives of hostages held in Gaza for a return to negotiations.
Earleir, the Israeli army revealed that three hostages were carrying a white flag and cried for help in Hebrew when they were mistakenly fired on by Israeli troops. The killing of the hostages soon sparked protests in Israel as the families of the remaining hostages expressed concern their loved ones could be next and urged Netanyahu to return to the negotiating table.
"All we get again and again are dead hostages," Noam Perry, daughter of hostage Haim Perry, said, as quoted by news agency AFP. "Our demand is not a fight (with the government). It's a call that anyone would have made if it had been their father. Take us into consideration and come up with a plan now (for negotiation)," she added.
During a week-long ceasefire last month, 240 Palestinian inmates were exchanged for more than 100 of the 250 Israelis and foreigners seized by the Hamas group during the unprecedented October 7 attacks.
However, Netanyahu insisted that the success of any future negotiations required the use of armed action. "It broke my heart. It broke the whole nation's heart," he said of the deaths. "With all the deep sorrow, I want to clarify: the military pressure is necessary both for the return of the kidnapped and for achieving victory over our enemies," he asserted.
Meanwhile, Hamas said that it would not "open any negotiations to exchange prisoners unless the aggression against our people stops completely".
After Hamas's October 7 attacks, Israel launched relentless bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, vowing to destroy Hamas and bring back the hostages. The Hamas authorities, who control Gaza, claim that the Israeli bombardment has killed at least 18,800 people, most of them women and children, and left much of the territory in ruins.
(With Inputs From AFP)