‘Netanyahu’s delay in signing deal led to the fresh deaths of 6 Gaza captives: Families

CAIRO – 1 September 2024: The families of Israeli captives taken by Hamas on October 7 have blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the fresh deaths of six of the captives in Gaza, calling on him to take responsibility for their passing.

The Israeli army asserted on Sunday that they have recovered the bodies of six captives from tunnels under the enclave, including 23-year-old Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American captive.

The occupation army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, blamed Hamas for the captives’ deaths, which come a few days after Tel Aviv announced its eighth rescue of a captive held in Gaza, Farhan Al-Qadi, a 52-year-old Muslim Israeli.

In a statement, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said “the delay in signing the deal has led to their deaths and those of many other hostages.”

“We call to Netanyahu: Stop hiding. Provide the public with a justification for this ongoing abandonment,” the forum emphasized.

The forum called for public protests across the country on Sunday, including at the Joint Square in Jerusalem at 4:00 PM local time and at Begin Gate in HaKirya, Tel Aviv, at 7:00 PM.

The forum said families of the captives and “hundreds of thousands” of people will join the protests, urging the international community to stand in solidarity with these actions.

The killed captives as announced by Israeli media are four males, namely Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Almog Sarusi, and Alexander Lobanov, and two females: Carmel Gat and and Eden Yerushalmi.

Sabotaging deal

Their killing comes while Hamas has repeatedly affirmed that negotiations and a ceasefire deal are the only ways Israel can restore their captives alive.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has added extra conditions for a ceasefire deal, bringing him accusation from top Israeli politicians that he is sabotaging efforts of reaching a deal that would bring back the captives safely.

Among these conditions is that any deal must ensure that Israel can resume the fighting and that Israeli forces do not completely withdraw from Gaza, conditions that Hamas firmly rejects.

As mediators, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have stepped up their efforts over the past month with fresh rounds of talks in Cairo and Doha in a bid to reach a deal that stops the war and achieve a prisoner-captive swap between Israel and Hamas.

“A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for over two months. Were it not for the delays, sabotage and excuses, the six hostages whose deaths we learned about this morning would likely still be alive,” the forum said in a Facebook post.

“TODAY, the entire nation will stand alongside the hostages' families to protest the cabinet's ongoing neglect of the hostages,” the forum added.

‘Paying for crimes’

US President Joe Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” after news of the deaths of the six captives, vowing Hamas to “pay for these crimes” and pledging to work around the clock to reach a captive release deal.

 

Meanwhile, Hamas says the captives were killed by ongoing Israeli strikes on the enclave, saying Israel and its supporters are the one who “will pay the price.”

“The one who bears responsibility for the deaths of captives held by the [Palestinian] resistance is the Israeli occupation, which insists on continuing the war of genocide,” said Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of Hamas' political bureau, on Telegram.

“The ones who will pay the price for these brutal crimes and the war of genocide against our people for eleven months is Netanyahu and his extremist government and all the supporters of this aggression.”

Netanyahu mourned the death of the captives, holding Hamas accountable and said the action proves that Hamas does not want a deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning:
"This is a difficult day for us.

Together with all citizens of Israel, I was outraged to the depths of my soul by the horrific, cold-blooded murder of six of our hostages: pic.twitter.com/Fs8qqlhJUm

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 1, 2024

Al-Rishq called on Biden to stop supporting Israel with funds and weapons and apply pressure on them to halt their aggression on Gaza.

“The one who kills our people daily is the [Israeli] occupation using American weapons,” said Al-Rishq. “The captives in the Gaza Strip, whose bodies were found, were only killed by Zionist bombing.”

Al-Rishq emphasized that Hamas has been even more concerned than Biden about the lives of the captives it holds, that is why the movement accepted the American president’s ceasefire proposal, while Israel rejected it.

The Gaza war has persisted for nearly 11 months, with relentless Israeli attacks killing 40,691 individuals and injuring 94,060, as reported by Gaza's health ministry on Saturday.

Furthermore, the war has led to the displacement of the majority of Gaza's 2.2 million residents and pushed the strip to the brink of famine.