Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing international and domestic pressure following the killing of six captives in Gaza. US President Joe Biden has stated that Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure the release of hostages. Britain has announced the suspension of some arms exports to Israel, citing a "clear risk" that they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant expressed deep disappointment over London's decision, while Netanyahu sought forgiveness for failing to save the latest hostages killed. "Hamas will pay a very heavy price for this," Netanyahu declared during a televised press conference, rejecting any "concessions" in Gaza ceasefire talks. Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, warned that remaining hostages would return "inside coffins" if Israel maintains its military pressure on Gaza. New instructions have been given to militants guarding the captives on what to do if Israeli troops approach.
In Washington, Biden met US negotiators working alongside Qatar and Egypt to secure a truce deal that would free the remaining hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. When asked if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a deal for the release of hostages, Biden replied: "No." Netanyahu insisted that Israel must retain control of the key Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, a significant sticking point in negotiations. Critics accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war to stay in power. Israelis are gripped by grief and fury after the military recovered the bodies of six hostages, all captured alive during Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war, from southern Gaza. A strike by the Histadrut trade union seeking a hostage deal brought parts of Israel to a standstill on Monday, although some cities were largely unaffected.
Protesters chanted "This is our last chance! Deal now!" as thousands marched through the streets of Tel Aviv. Signs reading "Our hearts are burning" and "Enough with this blood government" were held by demonstrators pushing for a deal to free the remaining 97 hostages, including 33 the military says are dead. Outside Netanyahu's Jerusalem home, protester Karem Saar stated that it is Netanyahu's responsibility to get his citizens out of Gaza. "Hamas are the ones that pulled the trigger but the fact that they're still there is on Netanyahu," she told AFP. Of the 251 hostages seized on October 7, just eight have been rescued alive by Israeli forces, although scores were released during a one-week truce in November—the only one so far. With Gaza in ruins and the majority of its 2.4 million residents forced to flee, often taking refuge in cramped and unsanitary conditions, disease has spread. After the first confirmed polio case in 25 years, a vaccination drive got underway on Sunday with localized "humanitarian pauses" to the fighting.
However, an AFP journalist reported troops blowing up homes in Gaza City and warplanes hitting a house to the east overnight into Tuesday. The territory's civil defence agency said Israel carried out a deadly strike on a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Khan Younis, as well as bombarding central Gaza. Around 160,000 children received a first polio vaccine dose on Sunday and Monday in central Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. Palestinian mother Basma Al Batsh expressed her happiness about the vaccination drive, saying, "I want to protect my children because I was afraid that they would be affected and become disabled." Israel's military campaign against Hamas has so far killed at least 40,786 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children. The October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Since the war erupted, violence has surged in Israel's border area with Lebanon and in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military launched a large-scale offensive on Wednesday. Imad Naim Abu Al Hayat, a Jenin resident, said his barbershop was destroyed by the Israeli military, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967. "They want to destroy the country so that people get tired of the (Palestinian) resistance, but we will not get tired of the resistance," he told AFP beside a pile of rubble. Further south in Tulkarem, an Israeli airstrike targeted an "armed terrorist cell" late Monday which the military said had shot at security forces. Separately, a medical source at Tulkarem's governmental hospital said Israeli forces killed a boy by shooting him in the head. The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said at least 26 Palestinians have been killed in the northern West Bank since Wednesday. Three Israeli police officers were also killed in a shooting on Sunday in the southern West Bank, an area where three Palestinians have also been killed in recent days according to the territory's health ministry. In Lebanon, the health ministry said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south killed two people on Monday.
