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Israel war 2023
Published on November 18, 2023
Updated November 18, 2023, 6:27 p.m. ET
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared all members of Hamas “dead men” as an estimated 30,000 people marched on Jerusalem to demand the government repatriate hostages captured by the terror group.
Netanyahu spoke at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening after protesters defiantly came to a halt outside his office an hour away in the holy, ancient city.
The prime minister insisted there had been “no hostage release deal” and appeared to shame those calling for new elections. He claimed he was “stunned” by the political talk “when our soldiers fight and die in battle in Gaza; The hostages’ families find themselves in a huge nightmare.
“It will be time for politics,” he said, according to the Times of Israel.
Thousands of demonstrators marched on Jerusalem on Saturday in honor of the Hamas hostages.Portal
Further developments in Israel on Saturday:
“We will go to Gaza on foot”
On the five-day march to Jerusalem, the ever-growing crowd was carried by the relatives of the hostages, most of whom carried signs with photos of their missing relatives.
The demonstrators marched from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after a five-day march.AP
“The journey is not over yet. Forty-three days is too long. We will continue in every way possible until every one of them is home,” organizer Yuval Haran, whose family members were kidnapped during Hamas’ October 7 sneak attack, told Haaretz.
“I returned from the US this evening, we had a meeting with Jake Sullivan. “I don’t understand how the national security adviser in the US has time to meet with us but the defense minister in Israel doesn’t,” said the father of Itay Chen, a 19-year-old soldier who is believed to have been kidnapped by the terror group, Israel’s N12 said.
The demonstrators called on the War Cabinet to meet with the families on Saturday evening.
“You are now responsible for returning them. Meet us and stop making us beg – it makes no sense,” Kobi Ben Ami, brother of hostage Ohad Ben Ami, told N12.
The group was led by the relatives of the 240 hostages who have been missing since October 7th. Getty Images
Some family members even suggested taking matters into their own hands.
“We have been walking non-stop for five days and my legs hurt, my shoulders and everything hurts, but nothing hurts like my heart,” hostage mother Eden Zacharia said, according to the Times of Israel.
“Even if we have to walk to Gaza, we will walk to Gaza. Wherever we have to go, we will go, we will not give up on our children,” she added.
At some point, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid was seen joining the protest.
Lapid has been critical of Netanyahu’s approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict and even called on him this week to resign “immediately,” the newspaper said.
Hospital in chaos
While officials continued to assess the condition of Al-Fakhoura School, chaos reigned in Gaza City as hundreds of patients and families seeking shelter left Al-Shifa Hospital on foot in a mass evacuation attempt.
However, six doctors remained behind to care for the 120 patients who were too vulnerable to move.
“Most of the medical staff had left Al-Shifa Hospital. . . “Many patients cannot leave the hospital as they lie on the intensive care unit beds or in the baby incubators,” wrote Ahmed El Mokhallalati, head of plastic surgery at the facilities, on Saturday.
“I will stay at Alshifa Hospital along with five other doctors with 120 patients (as patients cannot leave the hospital due to health reasons).”
Israeli military vehicles next to damaged buildings during the Israeli army’s ongoing ground operation against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.via Portal
The doctor called on the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to “take measures to protect medical staff and patients at Al Shifa Hospital.”
The Israeli army previously denied ordering the evacuation, although hundreds of people fled on foot Saturday morning, CNN reported.
The exact reason for the sudden flood is still unclear. The hospital became a heavy combat zone on Wednesday when Israeli troops raided the facility as part of their operation against Hamas.
Lt. Col. Lerner told the BBC that the IDF had been “encouraging people to leave for several weeks” and coordinated departures on Saturday morning.
People gather near the bodies of Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip.Portal
“It’s a huge challenge for any professional military operating in such a hostile environment where terrorists are using tunnels to get out and fire rocket launchers – and they’re doing it from places like hospitals, schools, mosques, wherever they are humanitarian and can use civil assistance.” Arena,” he emphasized.
In addition to the controversy surrounding the refugee camp school and the Al-Shifa facility, the death toll from the IDF’s attacks on Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip rose from 32 to 64 early Saturday, Haaretz reported, citing medical sources in Gaza.
The media did not say whether the sources had ties to Hamas-controlled organizations or not.
Initial reports said 26 people were killed when the attacks hit an apartment block, and another six died moments later when a house was bombed in Deir Al-Balah.
Area streets were lined with bodies in shrouds throughout the day as grieving relatives paid their respects, photos obtained by NBC News showed.
Post Wire Services
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