The bodies of six hostages kidnapped during Hamas attacks on October 7 have been found in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army announced on Sunday, September 1.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened on Sunday, September 1, to “settle his score” with the Palestinian Hamas, following the death of six hostages, whose bodies were found in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli army.
“He who kills hostages does not want an agreement” for a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, Benjamin Netanyahu added, threatening the Palestinian Islamist movement:
“We will pursue you, we will catch you and we will settle the score.”
More than 40,000 dead
Earlier, a Hamas leader, Ezzat Rishq, had estimated that Israel was “responsible for the deaths” of the hostages “because it persists in continuing its genocidal war (…) and fleeing any ceasefire agreement”.
In the Hamas attack on October 7, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, 251 people were kidnapped in Israel and taken to Gaza. The massive attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Israeli retaliation has left at least 40,691 dead in the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas’s health ministry. The majority of the dead are women and minors, according to the UN.
Negotiations on a truce agreement
For months, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to reach an agreement in Gaza, based on a plan proposed in late May by US President Joe Biden.
Israel and Hamas say they accept it but do not agree on certain conditions for its implementation, mainly the maintenance of Israeli troops on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
Benjamin Netanyahu also mentioned the death of three Israeli police officers in a shootout this Sunday morning in the south of the occupied West Bank. This attack has not been claimed but Hamas saw it as “a heroic operation of the resistance” and “a natural response to the massacres of the Palestinian people” in a statement.
“We are fighting on all fronts against a cruel enemy that wants to murder us all. This very morning, he murdered three police officers,” said Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The fact that Hamas continues to commit atrocities like those it committed on October 7 obliges us to do everything possible to ensure that it cannot commit them again,” he continued.
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