Netanyahu confirms war course
100 days of death and destruction in Gaza – 100 days of torment and fear for the hostages
January 13, 2024, 10:25 p.m
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Almost 100 days have passed since Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu is confident of victory and is reaffirming his course. But the pressure on the Israeli head of government is increasing – internationally and at home.
Ahead of the 100th day of the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas, relatives of the hostages still abducted in the Gaza Strip and the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) drew attention to the suffering of the victims of the terrorist attack on Israel and the fighting that has continued since then . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and army chief Herzi Halevi confirmed that they would continue the military course they had taken.
“No one will stop us,” Netanyahu said at a press conference in Tel Aviv, adding that it was “possible and necessary to continue until victory and that’s what we will do.” The military offensive in the Gaza Strip has already “eliminated most of the Hamas battalions.” Israel’s army chief Herzi Halevi assured that his compatriots would never forget the “bloodthirsty enemy”‘s attack on Israel. “We are fighting for our right to live in safety here,” Halevi said in a televised speech. It is a “just war” that will “last a long time.”
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, however, said the 100 days of war had brought “death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss and grief” and “stained our common humanity.” Lazzarini condemned Hamas’s “terrible attacks.” For the Israeli hostages and their families, the last 100 days have been full of “torment and fear.”
“Man-made catastrophe”
The humanitarian crisis affecting more than two million people in the Gaza Strip is a “man-made catastrophe,” Lazzarini said in a statement. Lazzarini complained that aid deliveries to the civilian population in need were being made more difficult and hindered by countless bureaucratic procedures and the ongoing fighting. “Despite repeated appeals, there is still no humanitarian ceasefire in place to stop the killing of people in Gaza and to ensure safe supplies of food, medicine, water and tents.”
The Gaza war was triggered by the devastating terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Hamas and other extremist Palestinian groups on October 7th, which left 1,200 dead. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 23,000 people were killed. However, the number does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Given the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the sealed-off coastal area, Israel’s government is under increasing pressure both internationally and at home.
Criticism of Netanyahu’s government’s actions comes, among others, from the relatives of the more than 100 Israelis still held hostage. In front of the art museum in Tel Aviv, they unveiled a replica of a tunnel modeled on the Hamas tunnels under Gaza, where many of the hostages are believed to be held. The families of the remaining hostages had recently increased pressure and demanded that the government step up its efforts to release the hostages.
“Small excerpt of the torment”
Artist Roni Levavi said he wanted to create “the most faithful reconstruction” of a Hamas tunnel in the Gaza Strip with the installation in Tel Aviv. The inside of the tunnel is dimly lit, the floor is dirty and the sounds of gunfire and artillery fire can be heard constantly. The relatives have renamed the forecourt of the art museum in Tel Aviv, where the tunnel is located, “Square of the Hostages”. There they remind people of the fate of those abducted at stands and with art installations.
The tunnel is only a “small part” of the torment that the hostages have to endure, said Eyal Moar, whose uncle was kidnapped by Hamas. “We know the conditions are truly terrible – no fresh air, very little food, no medicine, no sunlight.”
In the evening, thousands of people again demanded Netanyahu’s resignation at a demonstration in the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv. Speakers at the rally accused his government of not doing enough to bring the hostages home.