U.S. to Push Israel to Scale Back War Against Hamas in Gaza: Live Updates

Mr. Netanyahu started a authorities assembly in Tel Aviv on Sunday by studying from a letter that he stated got here from households of Israeli troopers killed combating in Gaza.

“You may have a mandate to struggle; you don’t have a mandate to cease within the center,” Mr. Netanyahu learn in Hebrew, in line with a press release from his workplace.

As a “testomony” to the fallen troopers, Mr. Netanyahu stated, Israel’s army would “struggle to the top.”

The letter seems at odds with the message coming from family of Israelis nonetheless held hostage in Gaza, lots of whom have taken to the streets to demand a cease-fire in order that their family members can return house.

Weekly rallies in help of the hostages have drawn hundreds of protesters to Tel Aviv to show outdoors the Israeli army’s most important headquarters. Information that the Israeli army had mistakenly killed the three hostages on Friday added a way of urgency to the rally on Saturday evening.

A whole lot of protesters gathered on a central boulevard in Tel Aviv to show in opposition to the federal government earlier than marching by way of town to affix the hostage rally.

“We see the present strategy isn’t working,” stated Deborah Galili, a protester from Tel Aviv. She stated she needed Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities to pursue a peaceable decision that will convey the hostages house and finish the combating.

A weeklong cease-fire between Israel and Hamas final month noticed 105 hostages freed in alternate for the discharge of Palestinians from Israeli jails earlier than negotiations broke down and the warfare resumed on Dec. 1.

However since then, Ms. Galili stated, “we’re not seeing extra hostages coming house alive.” A number of hostages have been confirmed lifeless by Israel’s army in latest weeks.

Ahal Besorai’s niece and nephew have been amongst these launched throughout the pause, however their father — Mr. Besorai’s brother-in-law — stays in captivity. Mr. Besorai stated in a cellphone interview on Sunday that he understood why individuals have been demanding a cease-fire, particularly after the deaths of three hostages, however anxious that solely army strain will convey the remainder of his household house.

“It’s a really, very, very, troublesome spot as a result of on the one hand, you need the one you love to be launched, and alternatively, you need Hamas eradicated,” stated Mr. Besorai, whose sister was killed within the Oct. 7 assaults, which left roughly 1,200 lifeless and 240 taken hostage, in line with Israeli officers. “These two goals and targets of this warfare seem at occasions in battle.”

Some protesters at Saturday’s rally stated that they believed the unintentional killings of the three hostages by Israel’s army would mark a turning level in individuals’s willingness to publicly criticize Mr. Netanyahu and the way in which his authorities is dealing with the warfare.

Ms. Galili was certainly one of them.

“Mr. Netanyahu has not taken accountability,” she stated, including that he must “step up” and take accountability or step down.

Efi Toledano, one other demonstrator from Tel Aviv, had protested Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities earlier than the warfare. Whereas he stopped in wake of the Oct. 7 assault on Israel, the deaths of the hostages prompted him to renew protesting on Saturday evening.

“We have been taught that when there’s a warfare, we’re all to be quiet and help the troopers,” stated Mr. Toledano. He stated that the deaths of hostages advised that Mr. Netanyahu is perhaps excited about persevering with the warfare even on the expense of hostages’ lives. Due to that, he added, “We’re returning to sound our voice and struggle in opposition to this authorities.”