Hostage families urge Netanyahu: Seek deal
Gaza still pounded as Hamas admits ‘faults’ in Oct. 7 attacks
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Israel’s army bombarded Khan Younis, the new epicenter of the war in the Gaza Strip, on Monday as the families of hostages held by Hamas urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal to secure their release.
Witnesses reported deadly strikes overnight in Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza, and fierce fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants.
Netanyahu has vowed “complete victory” over Hamas after cross-border attacks by the Islamist movement’s fighters on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally based on official Israeli figures.
The militants also seized about 250 hostages, and Israel says about 132 remain in the besieged enclave.
The war has spurred fears of a wider escalation, and sirens were heard again overnight in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, the Israeli military said.
There have been almost daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and several areas of the country’s south were hit overnight.
Houthi rebels in Yemen have also attacked what they deem to be Israeli-linked shipping in the vital Red Sea shipping lanes, prompting retaliatory United States and United Kingdom strikes.
In its first public report on the events that triggered the war, Hamas called for an end to “Israeli aggression” in Gaza, but admitted to committing “some faults ... due to the rapid collapse of the Israeli security and military system, and the chaos caused along the border areas.”
Despite this, the October 7 attacks were a “necessary step” against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and a way to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners, the group said in the 16-page report.
Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas after the attacks and launched a relentless offensive that has killed at least 25,105 people in Gaza, mostly women, children and adolescents, the territory’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said.
The Israeli campaign has killed about “20 percent to 30 percent” of Hamas fighters and is still far from its goal of destroying the Islamist movement, estimates by US intelligence agencies show, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
It said the US, Qatar and Egypt — the countries that mediated a truce in November — were trying to convince Israel and Hamas to approve a plan that would free all the hostages in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Netanyahu has maintained that Israel must retain security control after the war and has rejected the possibility of “Palestinian sovereignty.”
The US and others have recommended that a so-called two-state solution is the only way to guarantee Israel’s long-term security.
‘Bring hostages back’
Netanyahu is also under intense pressure to secure the return of the hostages and account for security failings surrounding the October 7 attacks.
Relatives and supporters of the hostages again rallied near Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Sunday night for their return.
“We are asking our government to listen, to sit down at the negotiating table, and [to] decide whether to accept this agreement or any other that would suit Israel,” said Gilad Korenbloom, whose son is a hostage in Gaza.
John Polin, also the father of a hostage, said Israelis serve their country, and in return, “we expect the government to ensure our safety.”
“We are asking the government to play its part, to propose an agreement, to bring it to a successful conclusion and to bring the remaining hostages back alive,” Polin said.
Netanyahu said in a video statement released after the Hamas report that, in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages, Hamas was demanding an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the release of Palestinian prisoners and guarantees that Hamas would stay in power.
“If we accept this, our soldiers have fallen in vain,” and security would not be guaranteed, he said.
United Nations agencies have warned of famine and disease as Gazans, 1.7 million of whom are displaced, struggle with shortages of water, medical care and other essentials during daily bombardment.
On Sunday, 260 humanitarian aid trucks were transferred to Gaza, said the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli Defense Ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, well below prewar levels.