Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized on Sunday to the family of Alexander Lobanov, one of six hostages held by the Islamist group Hamas who were found dead on Sunday by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, amid growing anger against the prime minister for failing to sign a truce. “I would like to say how sorry I am and I apologize for not being able to bring him back alive,” Netanyahu told the young man’s parents, Oxana and Grigory Lobanov, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The head of government highlighted that his military secretary, Roman Gofman, returned this morning from a visit to Moscow whose objective was to advance the agreement of a new truce with Hamas that would allow the release of the 97 hostages still in Gaza, of which a third died.
According to the Prime Minister’s office, Netanyahu “has spoken and will speak with more families [de reféns] throughout the day”, but the Israeli press anticipated that at least two of the families refuse to respond to calls for condolence from the head of government, who has so far not taken responsibility for the failures that allowed the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which left around 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped in total. Earlier this Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog also apologized “on behalf of the State of Israel” to the families of the six hostages.
“Those who murder hostages do not want a deal,” says Netanyahu
Netanyahu again blamed Hamas for the lack of a truce agreement and accused the Islamist terror group of failing to hold “real negotiations” since December, hours after the bodies of six hostages were found in the southern Gaza Strip. “Those who murder hostages do not want a deal,” Netanyahu said in a recorded message. “We, for our part, do not give up. The Israeli government is committed, and I personally am, to continue fighting for a deal that returns all our hostages and guarantees our security and existence.”
Earlier, representatives of the hostage families had called on the prime minister to speak publicly; his own defense minister, Yoav Gallant, urged him to reverse the decision to keep Israeli troops on the Gaza border with Egypt. “The cabinet [do governo] must meet immediately and reverse the decision taken on Thursday,” said Gallant, aware that the presence of troops on the divide, recently ordered by Netanyahu, is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a truce with Hamas. “It is too late for the hostages who were murdered in cold blood. [Mas] we must recover those still held by Hamas,” the minister added in a statement.
Netanyahu said that three months ago, on May 27, Israel agreed to a hostage release deal with the full support of the United States, but that Hamas refused. “Even after the United States updated the draft agreement on August 16, we agreed and Hamas refused again,” the Israeli prime minister added.
Hamas accuses Netanyahu of having recently added new demands, such as the presence of Israeli troops in the Philadelphia corridor – on the border between Gaza and Egypt – and in Netzarim, an artificial strip created in the war that crosses Gaza from north to south. “Any agreement must include a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the freedom of residents to return to their areas, aid and reconstruction, and a serious exchange agreement [de reféns por prisioneiros]”, Hamas stressed on August 25, after yet another round of fruitless negotiations.
In recent months, eight hostages have been rescued alive through military operations, compared to the 105 freed in the only truce agreement reached in November, the Hostage Families Forum reminded Netanyahu today. “This is the direct result of the failure to sign an agreement. All were killed in recent days, after surviving nearly 11 months of abuse, torture and starvation in Hamas captivity. The delay in signing the agreement led to their deaths and those of many other hostages,” the Forum said in a statement. Families of the hostages announced protests across the country today and throughout the week, and opposition leader Yair Lapid called on the head of the Histadrut labor federation to call a general strike in the face of the inaction of “Netanyahu and his death cabinet.”
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