The pressure of the hostage families on the Israeli government and especially on Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is mounting. 100 days after the kidnapping on October 7 by Hamas, the thousands of demonstrators in Tel Aviv of the Family Forum, who took to the streets for 24 hours, have strongly raised the demand that more must be done to immediately free the more than 130 prisoners still in Gaza.
A frustration that also unites US President Joe Biden who, according to Axios sources, "has lost patience" with Bibi. Both because the Israeli leader would have "rejected most of the US administration's demands" on the war in Gaza. But above all, the feeling in Washington is that the Israeli prime minister "is dragging out the war for political and personal reasons" and the release of the abductees "is not his priority."
In the evening comes the cold shower on the pain and expectation of the relatives. Hamas Qassam Brigade spokesman Abu Obeida said the fate of many Israeli hostages was "unknown in recent weeks." "Many of them were most likely killed as a result of the Israeli shelling," Hamas charges.
Netanyahu's office denies the U.S. claims, assuring that the prime minister is "working in every way to release the abductees as quickly as possible." But the leader of the centrist opposition Yair Lapid, in the square unlike the prime minister despite being invited by the hostages' relatives, went on the attack. "Yahya Sinwar (Hamas leader) - he said - we can kill him even in February. And we're going to kill him, sooner or later. But," he pleaded, "we must bring the hostages home immediately."
The 'horrendous scenario', pregnancies after Hamas rapes - War in the Middle East - Ansa.it Consultations are underway among Israeli health officials, still of a preliminary and discreet nature, in which a ''horrendous scenario'' is addressed: that is, the possibility that women held hostage by Hamas have been raped and that on their return to Israel they may find themselves pregnant, (ANSA)
The heaviest words, however, came from some of the families of the abductees. Ruby Chen, father of the hostage Itay, denounced that "the contract with the government was terminated on October 7." Hagar Brodutch, a former hostage in Gaza who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza with her three children and a friend, accused "she was abandoned by the state of Israel. There will be no resurrection until all the hostages return."
However, not everyone shared the criticism of the government. Chaim Or, Avinatan's brother, who was kidnapped by Hamas at the Nova Music Festival in Beeri along with his girlfriend Noa Argamani, stressed that it is not right to divide into right and left, religious and secular. The country, he pleaded, "is now at war but against the enemy, not against one or the other of us." And Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in his speech at the rally noted that Israel "will not allow the world to forget them. We will not leave them behind and we will not stop until Hamas is defeated."
According to polls, the decline in popular support for Netanyahu's wartime policy has been underway for some time. The latest survey published by Israel Ha Yom, a newspaper close to the government, revealed that 57% of the sample was "dissatisfied" with Netanyahu's performance. On the altar, on the other hand, the centrist leader, who entered the war government, Benny Gantz, who enjoys 67%, confirming his steady rise.
The urgency over the hostages seems destined in any case to agitate the government's waters more and more to lead, according to some analysts, to a resumption of indirect negotiations with Hamas and at least to a possible truce.
International diplomatic pressure is also growing: the EU has invited Israel and Palestine to its Council on 22 January. But the Israeli army remains convinced that the more the military push on Hamas increases, the greater the possibility of freeing the abductees. And it concentrates its forces in operations against Hamas in the center of the Maghazi area and in the south of the Strip where the death toll, according to the Islamic faction, has risen to almost 24 thousand people. If the West Bank remains boiling with 3 Palestinians killed today in clashes with the army, the front with Lebanon is rising in tone with the killing of 2 Israelis, a mother of about 70 years old and her 45-year-old son, by an anti-tank rocket launched by Hezbollah. This was followed by a "vast response" by the Israeli air force that hit Hezbollah sites.
Hezbollah: 'We are not afraid of a war with Israel'
We are not afraid to go to war with Israel, said the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, in a speech broadcast live on TV from an undisclosed location.
"It's the Israelis who are afraid to go to war with us. We are always ready," Nasrallah added.
"We continue to fight on our front to prevent Israel from launching a war against Lebanon," Nasrallah said. "The enemy's threats are useless, they have been of no use during these first 100 days (of war) and they will never be useful."
Meanwhile, the toll of the attack by Lebanese Shiite militiamen, who launched an anti-tank rocket from Lebanon towards the village of Kfar Yuval, rises to 2. A 70-year-old Israeli woman, Mira Ayalon, and her son Barak Ayalon lost their lives. The woman's husband was also injured in the attack.
Netanyahu: 'The conflict will last many more months'
"We have to manage this war and it will take many more months." This was said by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu at the cabinet meeting to approve the state budget for 2024. "For this reason," he explained, "we are preparing a war budget that obliges us to spend much more on defense than we had planned." "We are doing everything we can to bring everyone home, these efforts continue all the time," he said.
Raisi: 'Normalizing relations with Israel does not give security'
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has stated that those seeking to normalize relations with the "Zionist regime" should know that this does not create security for either the countries in the region or Israel. This was reported by the IRNA news agency. Speaking at the Al-Aqsa Flood event, Raisi said Iran had made the Palestinian issue "the most important in the Islamic world" and praised Iran for leading the fight against Israel.
"Iran's resistance has paid off," he said, "the Palestinians, on their own initiative, have turned the war with stones into a war with missiles and drones."
To learn more, ANSA Agency Middle East, 100 days of war. Netanyahu: 'No one will stop us' - Middle East - Ansa.it Hamas: '60 dead at night'. WSJ: 'Israel plans an operation on the border between Egypt and Gaza' (ANSA)
Hamas: Gaza death toll rises to 23,968. 188 Israeli soldiers killed
The death toll in the Gaza Strip from the war between Israel and Hamas has risen to 23,968 dead, the Hamas-led Strip Health Ministry has announced.
On the other side, the Israeli army announced the death of another soldier who died in combat in southern Gaza. This was announced by the military spokesman explaining that it is Andu'alem Kabeda (21 years old). The toll of soldiers killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation is now 188.
Middle East, 100 days of war - Primopiano - Ansa.it
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