The Israeli prime minister is under increasing pressure. Now he launches a plan: release all the hostages with a simultaneous two-month ceasefire.
Gadi Eisenkot knows what it means to lose a son in war – and a nephew at that. The former Israeli chief of staff, a member of the war cabinet, mourned the deaths of his 25-year-old son Gal Meir and his cousins in last year's Gaza war. The 63-year-old recently reported this in a TV interview.
He also caused controversy by demanding that the human lives of hostages be placed above military success. In the fight in the tunnel, however, their death is almost certain, he said. Eisenkot summarized a widespread opinion in Israel.
In recent days, the nation has said goodbye to 24 soldiers, most of them reservists – Israel's highest number so far since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7. On Jerusalem's Mount Herzl, the capital's hilltop cemetery of heroes, families, friends and comrades gathered for the final salute. After rocket launches, they died in an explosion or were buried when two buildings collapsed. In the 110 days of war, more than 200 Israeli soldiers have died to date, around three dozen in the hail of bullets and rockets from their own army.