Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought “forgiveness” from the people of the country for failing to bring back the six hostages who were found dead in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
According to The Times Of Israel, he said he had spoken to the families of the six hostages. “I told the families, and I repeat it here tonight — I ask for your forgiveness that we did not succeed in bringing them back alive.” During a press conference, he said the military was close but “we didn’t succeed”. Netanyahu added that they “will not let the massacre” simply pass by, and that the Hamas militant group would pay a price. His statement came as the Hamas said many more hostages would return in shrouds if a ceasefire deal is not reached.
Protests in Israel over the handling of ceasefire negotiations entered their second night on Monday. Earlier in the day, thousands of protesters took to the streets in fresh protests called by the families of the hostages to express their anger towards the Netanyahu administration for failing to bring their loved ones home 11 months since they were abducted, according to a BBC report.
The police reportedly used a considerable amount of force towards the protesters who were demonstrating outside the Prime Minister’s house in Jerusalem. The Times Of Israel reported that one of its reporters was throttled by a police official. The police threw some to the ground and dragged away many.
עם קבלת פקודה, ככל הנראה, שוטרים שניצבו מול מפגינים החלו לדחוף ולמעוך באלימות
רחוב עזה, ירושלים 02/09/24
קרדיט לצילום: שרון @imahot4 pic.twitter.com/G224xX7CiY
— אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) September 2, 2024
On Monday, United States President Joe Biden said Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas. This comes amid reports that a new proposal would be sent to Netanyahu as a “final” attempt to resolve the situation. When Biden was asked if Netanyahu was doing enough, he replied “no”. He added that the US would not give up, and would “push as hard as we can” for a deal.
Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris have met negotiators to hammer out a proposal. According to The Washington Post, Biden has been talking to Egypt and Qatar about the contours of a final “take it or leave it” deal that it plans to present to the parties in the coming weeks.
“You can’t keep negotiating this. This process has to be called at some point,” an official told The Washington Post, saying the United States, Egypt and Qatar had been working on the final proposal before the six hostages were found dead. “Does it derail the deal? No. If anything, it should add additional urgency in this closing phase, which we were already in.”
On Saturday, the bodies of the six hostages were recovered from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip. They were among 251 people taken hostage during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, 97 of whom remain in Gaza. Thirty-three of these are presumed dead. Some of the hostages were released during a week’s truce in November last year.
