Hundreds of parents of soldiers fighting in Gaza accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of needlessly prolonging the conflict and endangering the lives of their children on Thursday, as an Israeli official dismissed talk of progress in talks in progress towards a ceasefire and an agreement to release hostages.
Inside the enclave, Israeli airstrikes pounded areas of the northern and central Gaza Strip, a day after the discovery of the body of at least one hostage believed to be alive.
Health authorities in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, said the death toll in more than 15 months of fighting had exceeded 46,000, although the figure could not be verified.
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In an open letter to Netanyahu, more than 800 relatives of IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza or who fought in the enclave accused the prime minister of acting irresponsibly in his handling of the war and threatened to launch a ” total struggle.”
“Our sons and daughters have embarked on a necessary war that has been forced upon us by your actions,” the parents said, addressing Netanyahu.
“They have lost many friends and continue to die and be injured, mentally and physically. »
Relatives of hostages held in Gaza demonstrate in front of the Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv, January 8, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
A total of 401 soldiers have been killed fighting in Gaza since the war broke out on October 7, 2023, with the pogrom carried out by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, including six soldiers killed in the last week alone. Thousands more were injured, often seriously.
“The Israeli army has no reason to remain in Gaza other than to fulfill messianic wishes to settle there,” states the letter, which opposes Netanyahu’s position that continued military action would make it possible to free the 98 hostages who are still in Gaza and almost all of whom were kidnapped on October 7.
They accused the fighting in Gaza of being “a war without horizon, without precedent in our history, solely in the interest of your own political survival.” Critics have accused Netanyahu of bowing to the demands of his far-right coalition partners, who openly seek resettlement in the Gaza Strip, and thus refusing to reach a deal ending the war and freeing the hostages .
An Israeli official told the Times of Israel that recent days had not seen any dramatic developments in the mediation talks on a ceasefire agreement and hostage release taking place in Doha, and that Hamas had still not provided any list of hostages still alive. However, talks continue.
On Thursday, a Palestinian official familiar with mediation efforts said the lack of agreement so far did not mean talks were not moving forward and that it was the most serious attempt yet .
“In-depth negotiations are underway, mediators and negotiators are discussing every word and detail. There is progress in reducing the old existing gaps, but there is no agreement yet,” he told Reuters, without providing further details.
Qatar, the United States and Egypt are working to reach an agreement to end fighting in the 15-month conflict and free the last hostages held by Hamas before US President Joe Biden leaves its functions.
President-elect Donald Trump has warned there will be “a TERRIBLE price to pay” if the hostages are not freed before his inauguration on January 20.
An electronic billboard showing the image of US President-elect Donald Trump and referencing his threat to unleash hell if hostages held in Gaza are not released before his inauguration later this month, in Tel Aviv, in Israel, January 8, 2025. (Credit: Oded Balilty/AP)
According to the official, Egypt is not present at the negotiations. “They help when there are obstacles. It is possible that if progress is made, we will bring them in physically. For now, they are helping us. »
Contradicting recent media reports, the official insisted that Israel was not willing to grant Hamas a short ceasefire period to compile a list of living hostages.
“Fake news,” said the official.
Israel has insisted that the terror group detail the status of hostages that could be released in the first phase of a possible deal, but Hamas has argued that fighting must cease for several days to facilitate such a move.
The official also called the arrival of Steve Witkoff, a senior Trump adviser, to the Qatar talks positive.
“Increased pressure on Hamas is always welcome,” the official said.
-In recent days, discussions have mainly focused on Hamas’ demand to end the war in Gaza in order to free the hostages during the first so-called “humanitarian” phase.
“We are trying to find wording that is ambiguous enough to square the circle,” the official said.
A Palestinian in a residential building damaged following an Israeli strike, in Deir al-Balah, in the Gaza Strip, January 8, 2025. (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
There is also disagreement over the release of the male hostages aged in their 50s.
“Hamas said it was ready to release them, but it wanted a large number of ‘valuable’ terrorists, terrorists with blood on their hands, to be released,” according to the official.
Speaking from Paris on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said mediators were “very close” to reaching a ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas. However, he clarified that finalization of the agreement was likely to wait until the next administration takes office to be implemented.
The Hamas-run Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry said Thursday that more than 70 Palestinians had been killed and 104 injured by Israeli strikes over the past day.
The figures published by the terrorist group are unverifiable, and do not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.
Rescuers said eight people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, and four people – including three girls – were killed in a strike on their home. house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Palestinian Territories) said on Thursday that it had facilitated the transfer of large quantities of humanitarian aid to several hospitals in the Gaza Strip over the past three days.
The shipments included 6,750 liters of fuel, 10,000 liters of water, dozens of crates of food and nearly 300 boxes of medical supplies, COGAT said.
A truck with humanitarian supplies heading towards the Indonesian hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on January 6, 2025. (COGAT)
The IDF has not commented on the attacks.
The strikes came after soldiers announced Wednesday that they had found the body of Hamas hostage Youssef Ziyadne inside a tunnel, along with remains believed to belong to his son, Hamza. Ziyadne.
Family members of hostages killed in captivity in Gaza gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square to mourn the loss of their companion in misfortune and called on the government to sign the “truce” agreement. against release of hostages” currently under negotiation.
“We are members of a community of loss and mourning,” said Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was brutally executed by his captors along with five other hostages at the end of the month August, while they were detained by Hamas.
Mourners attending the funeral of Israeli hostage Youssef Ziyadne in Rahat, southern Israel, on January 9, 2025, after his body was found in an underground tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, where he was being held captive by the Hamas terrorist group. (Credit: Mahmoud Illean/AP)
“We do not want other people to join our community of agony and pain and yet, just yesterday, the Ziyadne family joined us. We implore all world leaders to reach a deal and bring the remaining 99 hostages home. »
An estimated 95 of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023 are still in Gaza, including the bodies of 34 hostages whose deaths were confirmed by the Israeli military.
The Palestinian terrorist group also holds two Israeli civilians who entered the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
The war in Gaza broke out when some 6,000 Gazans including 3,800 terrorists led by Hamas stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, kidnapped 251 hostages from all ages, and committed numerous atrocities and using sexual violence as a weapon on a large scale.
The ensuing multi-front war also spawned the attack on Israel by other Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iran itself, as well as the military response of the Jewish State.
At the end of November 2023, Hamas released 105 civilians during a week-long truce. Four hostages had previously been released. Eight living hostages were rescued by soldiers and the remains of 39 hostages were recovered, including those of three Israelis who were accidentally killed by the IDF while trying to escape their captors.
