More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas. But negotiations for their release have stalled again. This drives the relatives onto the streets. The overview:
Thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities for the release of hostages held by Hamas and against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The hostage families’ rally in the center of Tel Aviv was marked by International Women’s Day, which had been celebrated worldwide the day before. Relatives of female hostages and victims of Hamas violence and a young woman who was released in November spoke to the participants at the rally under the motto “19 women in the grip of Hamas.”
A few hundred meters away, several thousand people demonstrated against the Netanyahu government. Near the headquarters of the Defense Ministry, police stopped them from blocking a city highway, Israeli media reported. The authorities arrested 16 demonstrators. The opponents of the government accuse Netanyahu of a misguided policy that is only concerned with his own interests. This meant that the country was unprepared when the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups attacked southern Israel on October 7th. The terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 as hostages. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in front of President Izchak Herzog’s residence in Jerusalem. They also demanded freedom for the hostages. In Caesarea, near Tel Aviv, a large crowd gathered in front of Netanyahu’s private villa. One of the speakers, a former general, said of the head of government: “Your policy is aimed at only one thing: staying in power at all costs, and the war serves your purposes perfectly.”
Just over 100 hostages were released in Israeli prisons last November in an exchange for Palestinians. The conditions under which Hamas is holding the abducted people in the Gaza Strip are described as horrendous. According to Israeli estimates, 134 hostages, including around 20 women, are still in the hands of the terrorists. According to Israeli information, only around 100 of the hostages are believed to be alive. Indirect negotiations on a temporary ceasefire and further release of hostages are currently at an impasse.
Israel wants to coordinate construction of ship pier
The Israeli army has agreed to coordinate with US forces the construction of a temporary shipping pier on the Mediterranean coast of the Gaza Strip. Humanitarian aid could then reach Gaza by sea after appropriate inspection by Israel, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference. International organizations would then take over the distribution of the relief supplies. Regardless, the war against the Islamist Hamas will continue until its military capabilities are destroyed, he added.
The US government had announced that, in view of the humanitarian emergency in Gaza, it wanted to set up a temporary port to bring food, water and medicine to the war zone. It will take around 60 days until this is operational, said a spokesman for the US Department of Defense.
The humanitarian situation of the people in Gaza has been deteriorating dramatically for weeks. UN officials recently warned of thousands of civilians starving to death in the Gaza Strip. The war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military: Dozens of Hamas fighters killed
The Israeli military says it has killed dozens of Islamist Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. In the southern city of Khan Yunis, Israeli troops eliminated 20 Hamas militants in hand-to-hand combat and air strikes, the army said. During targeted operations, the enemy’s military facilities were destroyed and an unspecified number of fighters were captured. According to the statement, Israeli troops killed at least ten Hamas terrorists in the central Gaza Strip.
The information cannot be independently verified. According to Palestinian sources, Israeli fighter jets bombed a high-rise building in Rafah, the southernmost town in the sealed-off coastal strip, overnight. The residents had received warnings in advance and were not in the building in the center of the city that was destroyed, it said. Nevertheless, an unspecified number of civilians were injured in the attack on the Al-Masri Tower, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing local sources.
The Israeli military confirmed the attack on the high-rise building. According to the Times of Israel, it housed a Hamas planning cell. The terrorist organization was preparing attacks on Israeli soldiers and rocket attacks on Israel there.
As a result of the war, 82 Palestinians have died in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-controlled health authority said. 122 other people suffered injuries. The number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7th has risen to 30,960 and the number of injured to 72,524. This information could not be independently verified either.
The numbers collected in hospitals do not distinguish between civilians and armed fighters. 70 percent of the victims are said to be women, minors and old men. The Gaza war was triggered by an unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel. In the attack they killed 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 as hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Habeck admonishes Israel
The background to the distress in the Gaza Strip is massive bombings and a ground offensive by Israel in the coastal area. The military is reacting to the worst massacre in Israel’s history, in which terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups murdered around 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 in Israel on October 7th. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Israel’s military offensive so far, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The information makes no distinction between civilians and armed fighters. However, a large majority of the victims are women, minors and old men.
Israel must change its approach in the Gaza Strip, said Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) in New York after a conversation with UN Secretary General António Guterres. “That doesn’t mean they don’t have to fight Hamas. But the number of civilian casualties is too high and the strategy needs to change.” The other Berlin cabinet members would also see the situation that way, he added.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
