Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel met on Tuesday with households of hostages captured on Oct. 7, as strain mounted over his authorities’s plans to carry them residence.
“We’re dedicated, I’m personally dedicated, to the discharge of all of the hostages,” Mr. Netanyahu stated, in accordance with an announcement despatched by his workplace. “Rescuing them is a supreme activity.”
The assembly got here days after the Israeli navy admitted to mistakenly killing three hostages that it thought had been Hamas militants. The boys — Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer Talalka — had been shirtless, unarmed and bearing a makeshift white flag, the navy stated, and taking pictures at them violated its guidelines of engagement.
Israel believes that greater than 125 hostages are nonetheless held in Gaza, and the deaths on Friday revived frustrations amongst a lot of their households. On Monday, Avi Shamriz, the daddy of Alon Shamriz, one of many three males killed accidentally, advised NBC Information that the prime minister’s authorities had “murdered my son twice.”
Mr. Netanyahu met on Tuesday with representatives of greater than a dozen of the hostages’ households. Many households who weren’t invited to the assembly protested exterior the Israeli navy’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, opposing what they’ve considered because the politicization of the hostages’ trigger.
Critics of Israel’s marketing campaign in Gaza cited the killings as proof that Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities has not been as dedicated to defending civilians at it has claimed. Greater than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed within the combating to this point, in accordance with Gaza’s well being ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. The ministry has stated, nevertheless, that 70 p.c of the lifeless are ladies and youngsters.
On Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu vowed to maintain combating in Gaza after he learn from a letter that he stated got here from households of Israeli troopers who had been killed.
“You’ve got a mandate to battle; you would not have a mandate to cease within the center,” Mr. Netanyahu learn in Hebrew.
Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
