Netanyahu orders military to start full occupation of Gaza: reports
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Agence France-Presse photo.
Tel Aviv: Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his military to start action for the full occupation of the Gaza Strip, apparently to pressurise Hamas to release Israeli hostages. This is in view of Hamas-released videos featuring Israeli hostages in grave condition in Hamas’ captivity. A particular video showed an Israeli hostage, with an emaciated body that exposed his bones, digging his own grave.
According to India Today, Israeli forces are controlling roughly 75 per cent of Gaza.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu’s office gave the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff a direct instruction to follow through or resign.
Two of the mentioned videos by Hamas and Islamic Jihad showed two Israeli hostages, Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David. When Braslavski says in his video that he could no longer stand since he was badly injured, it was Evyatar who was digging his own grave.
The 57-second video shows Evyatar David, one of those taken hostage by Hamas after the attack on October 7, 2023. Evyatar, who is digging a hole in the narrow tunnel with a pickaxe, explains in Hebrew that he is digging his own grave. He says that every day his body is getting worse, and it is going straight to the grave. It is high time that he is freed so that he can join his family and sleep with them, Eviatar says in a message to Israel and the world, his words trembling in the weakness of hunger. The video ends with him sitting helplessly near a dug pit.
Following the release of the disturbing videos, Netanyahu sought the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide urgent food and medical aid to them.
Netanyahu said in a televised address on Sunday that he exactly understood what Hamas wanted. The armed group does not want a deal, but wants to break “us” using the videos.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday night in protest and demanded an immediate ceasefire deal with Hama