Netanyahu under fire as Israeli army retrieves dead hostages from Gaza

JERUSALEM

Families of Israeli hostages in Gaza have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of abandoning their loved ones for his political survival.

The criticism came after the army said Tuesday that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from the Palestinian enclave.

According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, the six hostages were alive when taken to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.

“He and all the hostages could have been brought back,” Mati Dancyg, whose father was among the dead hostages, told KAN.

“Netanyahu chose to sacrifice the hostages. Karma will judge him and he will pay for it, big time,” he said, accusing the Israeli premier of “choosing to abandon the hostages in order to survive.”

Shahar Mor, whose uncle was also killed in Gaza, said the Israeli government “wasted time and opportunities to save him.”

"The blood is on the hands of the government. For Netanyahu’s survival, my uncle died," he told the local Radio 103FM.

In a statement, the families held Netanyahu’s government responsible for the death of the hostages due to the delay in reaching a swap deal with Hamas to save the lives of the captives.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid also blamed Netanyahu for retrieving the captives dead.

Israel estimates that around 110 Israelis are held in Gaza, with Hamas saying that many captives were killed in Israeli attacks in the enclave.

In early June, the Israeli army rescued four captives alive from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, in an operation that resulted in the death of over 210 Palestinian civilians due to heavy artillery and airstrikes.

For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’s demands to stop the war.

Despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, Israel's offensive on Gaza, which began after a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, has continued.

The conflict has resulted in over 40,170 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and more than 92,740 injuries, according to local health authorities.

The ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara