Tel Aviv, MINA – More than 50 freed Israeli captives have urged premier Benjamin Netanyahu to fully implement the Gaza ceasefire agreement and secure the release of those still held in the war-battered coastal enclave.
“We who have survived [Israeli bombardment] know that a return to the war is life-threatening for those still left behind,” 56 freed hostages said in a letter posted on the social media platform Instagram on Friday evening, Palinfo reported.
“Implement the agreement in full, in one single maneuver,” the ex-detainees stressed.
Among those who signed the letter was Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two young sons were killed during the indiscriminate Israeli bombing of Gaza during the war.
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Their plea came as al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas released a video showing Israeli soldier Matan Angrest alive.
In the footage, Angrest also called on the Israeli government to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal and urged the US president to pressure Netanyahu in this regard.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners, although the Israeli army killed and injured multiple civilians and committed different ceasefire violations during the truce.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, the Hamas Movement has insisted on a transition to the second phase of the agreement, which would lead to a permanent end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. []
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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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