The conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza reached its 12th month on Saturday, showing no signs of abatement for the Palestinian territory or hope for the Israeli hostages still held captive. The prospects of a truce that would exchange Palestinian prisoners held by Israel for hostages held by Hamas seem bleak, as both parties remain steadfast in their stances. Hamas, which initiated the war with its October 7 attack on Israel, is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that troops must stay along the Gaza-Egypt border. The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been mediating to achieve a ceasefire in the ongoing war, which Hamas-run Gaza authorities claim has resulted in at least 40,939 deaths. According to the United Nations human rights office, the majority of the deceased are women and children.
Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel led to the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, including some hostages killed while in captivity, according to official Israeli figures. Out of the 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza, including 33 whom the Israeli military claims are dead. Several hostages were released during a one-week truce in November. Israel's announcement last Sunday that the bodies of six hostages, including a US-Israeli citizen, had been recovered shortly after being killed, sparked grief and anger in Israel. Thousands of demonstrators gathered on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, demanding the government secure the release of hostages. They carried banners reading "The blood is on your hands" and "Who's next".
International pressure to end the war intensified following the fatal shooting of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank on Friday. Eygi was demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the territory when she was killed. Her family called for an independent investigation into her death, stating that her life was "taken needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military". The UN rights office reported that Israeli forces killed Eygi, 26, with a "shot in the head". Turkey accused "Israeli occupation soldiers" of her murder, while the United States described her death as "tragic" and urged Israel to investigate. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Israel as a "barbaric" state and called on Muslim nations to form an "alliance" against Israel, stating: "It is an Islamic duty for us to stand against Israel's state terror. It is a religious duty." Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded by accusing Erdogan of "throwing the Turkish people into the fire of hatred and violence for the sake of his Hamas friends".
Approximately 490,000 people reside in Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law, in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967. Since Hamas's October 7 attack, Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 690 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Israel reports that at least 23 Israelis, including members of the security forces, were killed during the same period in Palestinian attacks. Eygi's killing occurred on the same day Israeli forces withdrew from a deadly 10-day raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, where AFP journalists reported widespread destruction as residents returned home. The withdrawal came amid Israel's disagreement with the United States over talks to forge a truce in the Gaza war. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that "90 per cent is agreed" and urged Israel and Hamas to finalize a deal. Netanyahu denied this, telling Fox News: "It's not close."
Hamas is demanding Israel's complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, claiming the group agreed months ago to a proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden. AFP reporters noted that air strikes and shelling continued in Gaza on Saturday, resulting in at least 17 deaths according to civil defence officials, the Palestinian Red Crescent, and witnesses. Among the victims were a woman and a child killed in an air strike north of Gaza City, and four people killed in another strike targeting a flat in Bureij camp. In the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, the civil defence reported that an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced people killed at least three people and wounded more than 20. Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, an ally of Hamas, also exchanged fire. Hezbollah announced a series of attacks on Israeli troops and positions near the border on Saturday, while Israel's military reported intercepting missiles detected crossing from Lebanon and striking a Hezbollah launch site in the country's south. Lebanon's health ministry reported that three emergency personnel were killed and two others wounded in an Israeli attack on a civil defence team extinguishing fires in south Lebanon. Hezbollah later announced retaliatory rocket fire targeting a town in northern Israel "in response to the enemy attacks... and particularly the attack" that killed the emergency workers.
