Netanyahu has threatened to seize territory in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t comply with its demands [Getty/file photo]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened on Wednesday to seize parts of Gaza if Hamas does not release the remaining captives, while the group warned they would return “in coffins” if Israel does not stop bombing the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu told parliament that “the more Hamas persists in its refusal to release our hostages, the stronger the pressure we will exert”.
“This includes the seizure of territories, along with other measures I will not elaborate here,” he added, days after his Defence Minister Israel Katz had warned: “The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel”.
Shattering weeks of relative calm in the war brought by the fragile ceasefire, Israel last week resumed intense bombardment and ground operations across Gaza, while Hamas has sporadically launched rocket attacks in retaliation.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, 830 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its strikes on March 18. No deaths have been reported on the Israeli side.
Israeli officials say the resumption of operations was meant to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages, after a stalemate in talks with mediators on extending the truce – which saw 33 Israeli captives freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas sought for to carry out talks on a second stage that was meant to lead to a permanent ceasefire, but Israel had continiously refused, instead insisting on an extension of the truce’s initial phase.
‘Random bombardment’
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
“Every time the occupation attempts to retrieve its captives by force, it ends up bringing them back in coffins,” Hamas said in a statement.
The group said it was “doing everything possible to keep the (Israeli) occupation’s captives alive, but the random Zionist bombardment is endangering their lives”.
‘People are tired’
In northern Gaza on Tuesday, Palestinians gathered for the biggest anti-Hamas rally since the start of the war, chanting “Hamas out” and “Hamas terrorists”.
Majdi, a protester who did not wish to give his full name, said the “people are tired”.
“If Hamas leaving power in Gaza is the solution, why doesn’t Hamas give up power to protect the people?”
Hamas began ruling the Gaza Strip in 2007 after winning a Palestinian election the year before. No vote has been held since.
Levels of discontent towards Hamas in Gaza are difficult to gauge, in part because of its intolerance for public expressions of dissent.
Fatah, the Palestinian movement of president Mahmoud Abbas, has called on Hamas to “step aside from governing” Gaza to safeguard the “existence” of Palestinians in the war-battered territory.
