Israeli forces have dropped leaflets within the southern Gaza Strip, asking residents to offer details about the captives taken by Hamas on October 7, as bombardment of the besieged enclave continues.
The leaflets dropped on Saturday, confirmed the images of dozens of captives nonetheless in Gaza, along with a message suggesting there can be advantages for anybody offering info to Israel.
“You want to return home? Please report if you identified one of them,” learn the message, which additionally listed a cellphone quantity and a hyperlink to an internet site containing pictures and names of the captives in Arabic.
“They are asking people’s help because they are unable to get to their hostages because of the resistance,” mentioned Abu Ali, one north Gaza resident. “End the war, Netanyahu, and get your people back,” he informed the Reuters information company.
Israeli military has dropped leaflets that state they’ve conditioned the pressured displacement of Palestinian residents (battle crime) on the return of the hostages. So, though their abduction had nothing to do with them Palestinian residents are being collectively punished (battle crime). https://t.co/PC9eqWToFV
— Naks Bilal (@NaksBilal) January 20, 2024
The captives had been taken throughout Hamas’s October 7 assault on southern Israel through which greater than 1,100 individuals had been killed. Israel has since relentlessly bombarded Gaza, killing greater than 24,900 Palestinians, largely girls and youngsters.
More than 100 of the captives had been freed throughout a short-lived November truce between Israel and Hamas. Israel says 132 stay in Gaza and 27 have died in captivity.
‘Captives matter’
On Saturday within the Israeli capital, dozens of family of the captives rallied outdoors the personal residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding he attain a take care of Hamas to make sure their launch.
The protesters plan to spend the evening in tents outdoors Netanyahu’s home within the coastal city of Caesarea – some 60km (37 miles) north of Tel Aviv – to protest in opposition to his lack of progress.
“The protesters said that they wanted Netanyahu to step out and speak to them,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Laura Khan, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem.
“One person, whose brother is in captivity and whose mother was released in the last deal, said Netanyahu looked her in the eyes and said the captives matter. She believes he’s lying. She said there was blood on his hands,” she added.
People standing outdoors Netanyahu’s dwelling held up posters studying, “We want a deal now”, Khan famous.
On Friday, Israeli battle cupboard minister and former navy chief Gadi Eizenkot mentioned a deal will likely be wanted to make sure captives nonetheless held within the Gaza Strip are launched alive, including {that a} lightning raid can be extraordinarily unlikely to succeed.
However, Netanyahu has mentioned he’ll push for “complete victory” in opposition to Hamas however has not outlined how he would obtain it.
Meanwhile, in Israel’s third-largest metropolis, Haifa, an anti-war protest came about on Saturday with Israeli Jews and Palestinian residents of Israel coming collectively to name for an finish to the preventing in Gaza.
“The message here is to end the war and that [the Israelis] can only live peacefully, side by side, with a political solution for the Palestinians,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the protest, which Israeli officers solely allowed to happen for 2 hours.
No finish in sight
In Gaza, assaults confirmed no indicators of stopping because the well being ministry mentioned Israeli assaults killed 165 individuals and wounded 280 others up to now 24 hours.
“There hasn’t been any let-up in the intense bombing across the Gaza Strip and it looks like it’s all started again in the north where more residential buildings have been targeted,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah.
“There appears to be a surge in the intensity and scale of the bombings, with the remaining buildings in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital and the western part of Gaza City and Jabalia and Beit Lahiya being hit.”
The neighborhood of Nasser hospital within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis additionally got here beneath heavy bombardment, Mahmoud famous. The facility is among the few partially functioning hospitals in Gaza.
In greater than 100 days of battle, Israel’s air, land and sea offensive has devastated a lot of Gaza, displacing many of the 2.3 million inhabitants, many pressured to maneuver repeatedly and search refuge in tents that do little to guard them from the weather and illness, based on the United Nations.
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