Tel Aviv, MINA – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a new wave of condemnations after the recovery of the bodies of six hostages from the southern Gaza Strip amid a stalemate in the cease-fire and prisoner swap talks with Palestinians, Anadolu Agency reports.
The army said early Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in the southern city of Rafah.
A forum for the families of hostages held in Gaza blamed Netanyahu for the death of their loved ones.
“If it weren’t for the saboteurs, the excuses, and the spin, the hostages whose deaths we learned of this morning would probably be alive,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
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“Netanyahu: Enough of the excuses. Enough of the spin. Enough of the abandonment. The time has come to bring our hostages home — those living for rehabilitation and the fallen and murdered for burial in their land,” it added.
The forum called on members of Israel’s security cabinet who voted to keep Israeli army forces in the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border to “withdraw after the humiliating decision they took Thursday.”
On Thursday, the security cabinet approved the army’s continued presence in the corridor in any proposed cease-fire and hostage exchange agreement.
With this decision, the cabinet officially adopted Netanyahu’s position regarding the Philadelphi Corridor.
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For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and a cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’ demands to stop the war.(T/RE1/P2)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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