Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday rejected a new wave of pressure to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza after hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested and went on strike and US President Joe Biden said he needed to do more after nearly 11 months. from fighting.
In his first public speech since Sunday’s mass protests sparked an angry response from many Israelis over the discovery of six more dead hostages, Netanyahu said he would continue to press the demands that emerged as a key point in the talks – maintaining Israeli control over the issue. The Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip along Gaza’s border with Egypt through which Israel fights Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza. Egypt and Hamas denied it.
Netanyahu called the corridor important to ensure Hamas cannot rearm through the tunnel. “This is oxygen from Hamas,” he said.
And he added: “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than I am. But no one will preach to me.”
Israel has poured into the streets late Sunday in grief and anger in the biggest protests since the start of the war. The family and the public blamed Netanyahu, saying the hostages could return alive in a deal with Hamas. A rare general strike was held across the country on Friday.
But others supported Netanyahu’s drive to continue his campaign in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and caused massive death and destruction in the region. Netanyahu said the strike would force the militants to comply with Israeli demands, potentially facilitating rescue operations and ultimately destroying the group.
The United States’ main ally showed impatience. Biden spoke to reporters as he arrived at the White House for a Situation Room meeting with the US mediation team on the negotiations. Asked if Netanyahu had done enough, Biden replied, “No.”
He stressed that negotiators remained “very close” to a deal, adding, “I hope it lasts.”
Hamas accused Israel of dragging out months of negotiations by issuing new demands, including Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor and a second corridor that runs through Gaza. Hamas has offered to release all hostages in return for an end to the war, a total withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners, including prominent militants – most of the terms requested in the outline of the deal. advanced by Biden in July.
Netanyahu has promised “total victory” against Hamas and blamed it for the failure of the negotiations. On Monday, he said he was ready to implement the first phase of the ceasefire – a plan that would include the release of some hostages, the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of some prisoners held by Israel. But he rejected Hamas’s main demand for a total withdrawal from Gaza and said he saw no party other than Israel capable of securing Gaza’s borders and preventing arms smuggling.
Israeli media have reported deep differences between Netanyahu and top security officials, including Defense Minister Yoava Gallant, who has said the time is ripe for a ceasefire.
Officials confirmed the shouting match between Gallant and Netanyahu at a security cabinet meeting on Thursday, where Netanyahu held a vote to maintain control of the Philadelphi corridor.
Gallant voted alone against the proposal, saying Netanyahu favored the border arrangement over the lives of the hostages. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting. Gallant on Sunday asked the security cabinet to reverse the decision.
Khalil al-Hayya, the Hamas official leading the negotiations, told the Qatari network Al Jazeera on Sunday that Netanyahu considered maintaining the Philadelphi corridor “more important” than winning the release of the hostages.
Al-Hayya also said that Hamas offered “great flexibility,” including reducing the demand that 500 Palestinian prisoners be released in exchange for every captured Israeli soldier to 50, and from 250 Palestinian prisoners or every Israeli civilian hostage to 30. He accused Israel. introducing new conditions including increasing the number of prisoners to be deported upon release and prohibiting the release of elderly or sick prisoners sentenced to prison.
Israel says the six hostages found dead in Gaza were killed by Hamas shortly before Israeli forces arrived at the tunnel they were holding. Israel’s Health Ministry said autopsies determined the hostages were shot at close range and died on Thursday or Friday.
The three were reportedly among those to be released in the first phase of a cease-fire proposal outlined by Biden in July.
Thousands attended the funeral of one of the six, Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. He is one of the most high-profile hostages, with his parents leading a high-profile campaign to free the captives, meeting with Biden and Pope Francis and addressing the Democratic National Convention last month.
The general strike, called by Israel’s largest trade union, the Histadrut, ended early after the labor court accepted a petition from the government citing political motivation.
It was the first strike since the start of the war, aimed at shutting down or disrupting key economic sectors, including banking and health care. Some flights at Israel’s main international airport, Ben-Gurion, depart early or are slightly delayed.
“There is no need to condemn the entire state of Israel because what happened, in general, was a victory for Hamas,” said one of the passengers, Amrani Yigal.
But in Jerusalem, resident Avi Lavi said that “I think it’s fair, the time has come to stand up and wake up, do everything so that the hostages can come back alive.”
Municipalities in the central region of Israel, including Tel Aviv, participate. Others, including Jerusalem, do not.
About 250 hostages were taken on October 7. More than 100 were released during a ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces. Israeli forces mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.
About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they swept into southern Israel on October 7. Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who did not specify the number of militants.
The war has killed the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and has turned the besieged territory into a humanitarian disaster, including new fears of a polio outbreak.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its six-day assault on the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. An AP reporter saw bulldozers tearing up the road. The Palestinian Red Crescent, whose paramedics are operating in Jenin, said Israeli forces blocked ambulances from approaching the wounded.
Palestinians in a town outside Jenin held a funeral for a 58-year-old man, Ayman Abed, who was arrested the day before and died in Israeli custody. The Israeli military said he died of a “cardiac event”, but gave no further details. Human rights groups have reported abuse of Palestinians detained by Israel, and the military has confirmed at least 36 Palestinians have died in detention centers since October.
Israel says it has killed 14 militants in Jenin, captured 25 militants and dismantled explosives buried in the streets. Palestinian health officials said at least 29 people were killed, including five children.
Mohannad Hajj Hussein, a resident of Jenin, said electricity and water were cut off. “We are ready to live by candlelight and we will feed our children from our bodies and teach them resilience and perseverance in this land,” he said. “We will rebuild what was destroyed by the occupation and we will not bow down.”
