JERUSALEM (AP) — Dozens of family members of hostages held by Hamas stormed a committee meeting in the Israeli parliament on Monday, demanding a deal to release their loved ones, as European foreign ministers joined growing international calls for Israel to negotiate the creation of a state. Israeli. Palestinian state After the war.
The developments showed increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was examining both fronts. He insisted to the Israeli public that continuing the devastating offensive in Gaza was the only way to bring the hostages home. At the same time, he rejected the US vision for a post-war solution, saying he would do so Never allow the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The dispute over the future of Gaza – with the war raging with no end in sight – pits Israel against its biggest ally, the United States, as well as much of the international community. It also represents a major obstacle to any plans for post-war governance or reconstruction of the coastal region, and large parts of it They left it unlivable due to Israeli bombing.
In the most direct comments yet from Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia's top diplomat said it would not normalize relations with Israel or contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza without a credible path to establishing a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu vowed to continue the attack until “complete victory” over Hamas and return all remaining hostages after that October 7 rampage in southern Israel That sparked the war. In this attack, about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 people were kidnapped by Hamas and other militants.
But more than three months into the war, Israelis are increasingly divided over the issue Whether it is possible to do both.
About 100 hostages were released under a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. About 130 of them remain detained, but a number of them have since been confirmed dead. Hamas said that it would not release more prisoners except in exchange for ending the war and releasing thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu ruled out reaching such an agreement.
Anger is growing among the families of the hostages. Relatives of the hostages, as well as other protesters, set up camp outside Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem and pledged to stay until an agreement was reached to repatriate the rest of the prisoners. Other protests called for new elections.
On Monday, dozens of hostage family members stormed a Knesset Finance Committee meeting, holding signs and shouting, “You will not sit here while they die over there!”
“These are our children!” They shouted. “We can't pursue any other agenda, we only need to discuss one thing now!”
Some had to be physically restrained as they shouted at lawmakers, and at least one person was escorted outside. The meeting was suspended briefly and later resumed.
More than 25,000 dead in Gaza
The Israeli attack on Gaza led to the killing of at least 25,295 Palestinians and the injury of more than 60,000, according to statistics. Ministry of Health in Gaza. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but says that about two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
Medics reported fierce fighting in the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the country, saying that dozens of dead and wounded were transferred to the city's already overcrowded Nasser Hospital. Families were seen fleeing south to areas already crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
The Israeli military says it has killed about 9,000 activists, without providing evidence, and blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because it deploys fighters, tunnels and other militant infrastructure in dense residential areas.
About 85% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have fled their homes. Searching for an elusive shelter in the south While Israel continues to bomb all parts of the besieged Strip. United Nations officials say One in four people in Gaza suffers from hunger The fighting and Israeli restrictions hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid.
There is also war It stoked tensions across the regionWith Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen attacking Israeli and American targets.
Netanyahu is under increasing pressure
Netanyahu, whose popularity has declined since October 7, is facing pressure from the United States to shift to more precise military operations and make more efforts to facilitate humanitarian access to Gaza.
The United States is also pressing him on its vision for post-war Gaza, calling for reform of the Palestinian Authority to govern the area and the start of negotiations on a two-state solution. The Authority currently rules enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was expelled from Gaza in 2007 when Hamas took power.
But Netanyahu's ruling coalition is beholden to far-right parties that want to escalate the offensive, encourage the “voluntary” migration of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the re-establishment of Jewish settlements there. Netanyahu rejected the entry of the Palestinian Authority into Gaza and ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying that this would expose Israel to danger.
At a meeting on the war on Monday in Brussels, European Union foreign ministers added their voices to calls for it Palestinian stateConsidering that this is the only way to achieve peace.
French Foreign Minister Stephane Segorn said Netanyahu's refusal to establish a state was “worrying.” “There will be a need for a Palestinian state with security guarantees for all.”
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said of Israel: “What other solutions are they considering? Force all the Palestinians to leave? Kill them?”
The comments made by the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, late Sunday were notable because before the war, the United States had been trying to broker a historic agreement in which Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel. In September, Netanyahu said that Israel was continuing “the point” Of the deal.
In an interview with CNN, host Fareed Zakaria asked: “Are you saying unequivocally that if there is no credible and irreversible path to a Palestinian state, then there will be no normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel?”
Prince Faisal replied: “This is the only way we will get a benefit.” “So, yeah.”
When asked if oil-rich Saudi Arabia would fund reconstruction in Gaza, he said: “As long as we are able to find a way to a solution… we can talk about anything.”
“But if we reset the status quo before October 7, in a way that sets us up for another round of this, as we've seen in the past, then we're not interested in this conversation.”
The Palestinians seek to establish a state that includes Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and annexed East Jerusalem, lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital and the West Bank as the historical and biblical heartland of the Jewish people. I built Dozens of settlements in both regions Inhabited by hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers. Peace talks collapsed nearly 15 years ago.
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Al-Sharafa reported from Deir Al-Balah in the Gaza Strip.
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