Hostage body found on war’s bleak milestone
TEL AVIV: Tens of thousands of Israelis have marked the six-month mark of their country’s war in Gaza by escalating their regular protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On the day a dead hostage’s body was retrieved from Gaza, organisers said about 100,000 people converged at a Tel Aviv crossroads renamed “Democracy Square”.
Chanting “elections now”, protesters called for Netanyahu’s resignation.
Rallies were also held in other cities, with Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid taking part in one in Kfar Saba before his departure for talks in Washington.
“They haven’t learnt anything, they haven’t changed,” he said at that rally.
Israeli media said clashes had broken out between protesters and police at the Tel Aviv rally and police said one protester had been arrested.
About 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7, igniting the war. The Israeli army says 129 hostages are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.
The protesters in Tel Aviv were joined by families of Gaza hostages and their supporters who are demanding Israel do more to free their loved ones.
Earlier, the army announced troops had recovered the body of a hostage abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack and later murdered in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
The recovery of Elad Katzir’s body brings to 12 the number of bodies of hostages which the army says it has brought home from Gaza during the war. But it gave no comfort to his sister, who blamed Israeli authorities for his death.
The Israeli army said in a statement that “the body of the abductee Elad Katzir, who according to intelligence was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation, was rescued overnight from Khan Yunis and returned to Israeli territory”.
Katzir, 47 at the time of attack, was abducted from Nir Oz kibbutz community along with his mother Hanna who was released on November 24.
Katzir’s sister expressed fury at the authorities.
“Elad was kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz in one piece,” Carmit Palty Katzir wrote on her Facebook page.
She blamed the Israeli authorities for her brother’s death, saying he would have returned alive had the authorities agreed to a new truce deal.
“Our leadership is cowardly and driven by political consideration, which is why this deal has not happened yet,” she wrote.
“Prime Minister, war cabinet, and coalition members: Look at yourself in the mirror and say if your hands didn’t spill blood.”
But President Isaac Herzog said Israel is fighting a “bloody and difficult war”, in a statement to mark the half-year mark yesterday.
“Tomorrow at 6:29 am (0329 GMT), we mark six months since the cruel terror attack and the horrific massacre,” Herzog said on Saturday.
“Half a year since this crime against our sisters and brothers, against our state, this crime against humanity. Six months of a bloody and difficult war.”
The milestone brings yet another attempt at truce talks over the weekend with American, Israeli and Hamas negotiators expected in Cairo in a renewed push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani were due to join Egyptian mediators for the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas.