Netanyahu tells captives’ families that Hamas is starving Gaza
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that he spoke with the families of the two captives whose images were released by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Netanyahu expressed “deep shock” and told the families that efforts to bring back all the captives held in Gaza are ongoing.
Countering numerous witness accounts and testimonies by the UN and international aid agencies, he claimed that Israel allows much aid into Gaza, and that the videos prove that Hamas is “deliberately starving our hostages”.
“Hamas terrorists are also intentionally starving the residents of Gaza and preventing them from receiving aid,” Netanyahu said, calling for international condemnation of Hamas.
Israel must respond to captives’ images by destroying Hamas: Smotrich
Bezalel Smotrich, one of two top far-right ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, believes the images of emaciated captives released by Hamas must lead to intensified war against starving Palestinians in Gaza.
“The purpose of Hamas in publishing the hostage videos is not to give us a sign of life, of course, but to carry out emotional manipulations, to abuse the families, and to tear apart our hearts and exert pressure on us through the terror of manipulations to surrender and stop the war before its destruction,” the finance minister wrote in a post on X.
“This, of course, will not happen. The response to the cruel abuse of the hostages must be the complete destruction of this pure evil from the face of the earth and the return of all the hostages without any conditions. Immediately! With all force and without stopping for a moment!”.
France denounces images of emaciated captives, wants Hamas disarmed
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has condemned what he called “despicable, unbearable” images of Israeli captives held in Gaza.
“Their ordeal must end,” he wrote on X in both French and Hebrew. “They must be released, unconditionally.”
France’s top diplomat said Hamas must be disarmed and excluded from any governing role in Gaza. He added that humanitarian aid must enter Gaza on a massive scale.
