TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday resisted renewed pressure to agree a ceasefire in Gaza after hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested and struck, and U.S. President Joe Biden said more needed to be done after nearly 11 months of fighting.
In his first public speech since Sunday’s mass protests left six more hostages dead and outraged many Israelis, Netanyahu said he would continue to insist on a demand that has been a major sticking point in the negotiations: Israel’s continued control of the Philadelphia Corridor, a narrow strip along the Gaza-Egypt border that Israel claims is where Hamas is smuggling weapons into Gaza, a charge Egypt and Hamas deny.
Netanyahu said the corridor was essential to ensuring Hamas could not rearm through the tunnels. “This is Hamas’ oxygen,” he said.
He added: “Nobody is more committed to freeing the hostages than I am. Nobody is going to lecture me on this issue.”
Israelis took to the streets late Sunday in grief and anger in what were believed to be the largest protests since the war began, with many family members and citizens blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for making a deal with Hamas that would have allowed the hostages to escape alive. A rare general strike was held across the country on Monday.
Late Monday, thousands of protesters gathered outside Netanyahu’s private residence in central Jerusalem, carrying a coffin draped with the Israeli flag while chanting “agree now.” Scuffles broke out when police seized the coffin, leading to the arrest of several protesters. Thousands more marched outside Netanyahu’s Likud party in Tel Aviv, Israeli media reported.
But others support Netanyahu’s push to continue the Gaza operation, which began with Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in the region. Netanyahu has said the attacks will force the militants to cave to Israel’s demands, facilitating a rescue operation that could eventually wipe out Hamas.
The United States, a key ally, is growing impatient. Biden told reporters as he arrived at the White House for a Situation Room meeting with the U.S. mediation team on the negotiations. Asked if Netanyahu was doing enough, Biden replied “no.”
He insisted negotiators were “very close” to an agreement, adding that “hope remains.”
Hamas has accused Israel of dragging out the months-long negotiations with new demands, including permanent Israeli control of the Philadelphia Corridor and a second corridor across Gaza. Hamas has offered to release all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops and the release of many Palestinian prisoners, including prominent militants — broadly the same conditions called for in Biden’s outline of a proposed agreement he presented in July.
Netanyahu has vowed “total victory” over Hamas, blaming it for the failure of the negotiations. On Monday he said he was ready to implement the first phase of a ceasefire, which would include the partial release of hostages, a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops and the release of some prisoners held by Israel. But he rejected a complete withdrawal from Gaza, saying no other power can control the Gaza border.
Israeli media have reported deep differences between Prime Minister Netanyahu and senior security officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who say the time is ripe for a ceasefire.
Officials confirmed there was an altercation between Gallant and Netanyahu during a security cabinet meeting on Thursday, where Netanyahu voted in favor of maintaining control of the Philadelphia Corridor.
Gallant was the sole vote against the proposal, saying Netanyahu was prioritizing a border deal over the lives of the hostages. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting, called on security ministers on Sunday to reverse the decision.
Khalil al-Khayya, the Hamas official leading the negotiations, told Qatari television station Al Jazeera late on Sunday that Netanyahu considered it “more important” to maintain the Philadelphia corridor than winning the hostages’ release.
Al-Hayya also said Hamas had shown “great flexibility,” including reducing its demand for the release of 500 Palestinian prisoners for every captured Israeli soldier to 50, and 250 for every Palestinian prisoner or Israeli civilian hostage to 30. He accused Israel of introducing new conditions, such as increasing the number of prisoners who must be deported upon release and barring the release of elderly or sick prisoners serving life sentences.
Israel said six hostages were found dead in Gaza, but that they were killed by Hamas shortly before Israeli forces reached the tunnel where they were being held.
Hamas’s militant wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, appeared to say in a statement on Monday that it had a policy of killing any hostages Israel attempts to rescue. The brigade said it had issued new instructions to fighters guarding the hostages on how to respond if Israeli forces approached, after Israel rescued four hostages in a deadly raid in June. The brigade said Netanyahu’s insistence on applying military pressure instead of reaching a deal “means that they (the hostages) will return to their families in coffins.”
Three of the hostages killed were reportedly people who were supposed to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal outlined by President Biden in July.
Thousands attended the funeral on Monday of one of the six, Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. He was one of the most well-known hostages, his parents led a high-profile campaign to free them, met with Biden and Pope Francis and spoke at the Democratic National Convention last month.
A general strike called by Israel’s largest trade union, the Histadrut, was ended early after a labor court accepted a government petition that said it was politically motivated.
It was the first attack since the start of the war and was aimed at shutting down or disrupting key sectors of the economy, including banking and health care. At Israel’s main international airport, Ben Gurion, some flights were delayed or departed early.
“There’s no need to punish the whole of Israel because of what’s happening. Overall, this is a victory for Hamas,” said passenger Amrani Yigal.
But Jerusalem resident Avi Rabbi said: “I think this is fair. It’s time to stand up, wake up and do everything we can to bring the hostages back alive.”
Municipalities in Israel’s most populated centres, including Tel Aviv, participated, while other municipalities, including Jerusalem, did not.
On October 7, some 250 hostages were taken. A ceasefire in November saw the release of more than 100 hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli custody. Eight were rescued by Israeli forces, who mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped in December.
About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israeli retaliatory attacks killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who did not say how many of them were militants.
The war has forced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to flee multiple times and has plunged the besieged region into a humanitarian disaster, including renewed fears of a polio outbreak.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its sixth day of raids on the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. An Associated Press reporter saw bulldozers digging up a road. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces were preventing ambulances from reaching the wounded.
Palestinians in a town outside Jenin held a funeral for Ayman Abed, a 58-year-old man who was arrested the previous day and died in Israeli custody. The Israeli army said he died of a “heart attack” but gave no further details. Human rights groups have reported mistreatment of Palestinians in Israeli custody, and the army has confirmed that at least 36 Palestinians have died in detention facilities since October.
Israel said it had killed 14 militants in Jenin and arrested 25. Palestinian health officials said at least 29 people were killed, five of them children.
Jenin resident Mohannad Hajj Hussein said his electricity and water had been cut off. “We are ready to live by candlelight, feed our children with our bodies and teach resistance and perseverance here,” he said. “We will rebuild what has been destroyed by the occupation and we will not kneel.”
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Associated Press writers Julia Frankel and Melanie Lydman in Jerusalem and Zeik Miller in Washington contributed.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
