Netanyahu in Opposition Crosshairs After Bodies of Prisoners Found | News

Anger and criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have mounted in Israel after the Israeli army announced on Sunday that it had found the bodies of six detainees inside a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, with some of his opponents saying he would “delay the prisoner swap until everyone dies.”

CNN quoted the Forum of Families of Israeli Prisoners in Gaza in a letter addressed to Netanyahu, taking responsibility for the failure of the exchange deal with the Palestinian resistance, the neglect, and the killing of the detainees.

He also asked him to stop blaming everyone and take responsibility for his failures, stressing that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is not the only one responsible for the failure of the deal and that he expects Netanyahu to do everything to recover the detainees.

For its part, the Israel Hayom newspaper quoted the head of the Israeli intelligence agency (Mossad), David Barnea, in a meeting with the families of the prisoners, as saying that he preferred to withdraw from the axes and return the “kidnapped.”

“There is no need for the Philadelphi and Netzarim axes on the operational level,” Barnea said, accusing Netanyahu of working to delay the prisoner deal until “everyone dies,” referring to the rest of the prisoners held by the resistance.

The Mossad chief also said that the differences between Israel and Hamas regarding the return of Gaza residents to the northern part of the Strip are more complicated than the Philadelphi Corridor, and have no solution at the present time, and that the possible solution regarding the return of residents of the northern part of the Strip is painful from Israel's point of view, according to his expression.

“He will make up any excuse.”

In the same context, the Walla website quoted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, commenting on the killing of the six hostages, that Netanyahu decided to save the government coalition instead of the “kidnappers,” stressing that he “will invent any excuse to delay concluding the deal until everyone dies.”

The minister called on the political and security cabinet to “immediately reverse the decision to remain in the Philadelphi axis,” saying that “it is too late for the kidnapped people who were killed, but those who are still in captivity must be returned.”

A sharp confrontation and unprecedented clash erupted between Galant and Netanyahu on Thursday after the cabinet discussed maintaining control over the Philadelphi corridor in Gaza and Galant's strong opposition to this decision as it hinders reaching a prisoner exchange agreement.

“corrupt and arrogant”

Channel 12 Israel quoted a senior government official as saying that Netanyahu is thwarting a deal so that his government does not fall.

Haaretz quoted a senior government official as saying that everyone knows that Netanyahu is corrupt, arrogant and cowardly, but it has finally been revealed that he is brutally inhuman.

Commenting on these criticisms, Netanyahu accused Hamas of killing the six prisoners, and vowed to pursue and eliminate the movement's leaders. He described “this day as very difficult, after the bodies of six prisoners were rescued, and three members of the security forces were killed in an attack east of the Tarqumiya crossing, west of Hebron.”

In a statement responding to the accusations against him, Netanyahu said that “efforts to free the kidnapped have been ongoing since last December, and Hamas refuses to hold real negotiations,” adding that Israel “will not rest until it reaches the killers of the hostages in Hamas.”

In the first UN comment, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the retrieval of the bodies of Israelis held in Gaza was a reminder of the need to release all “hostages” and end what he described as the nightmare of war in the Strip.

“They were killed by the bombing”

Earlier today, Sunday, the Israeli occupation army announced the recovery of the bodies of 6 detainees after they were found inside a tunnel in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, confirming their identities, while US President Joe Biden expressed his sadness over the death of one of them.

For its part, Hamas announced that the prisoners were killed by the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, and held the Netanyahu government and the US administration responsible for their deaths and the deaths of the prisoners who preceded them.

US President Joe Biden announced that among the six bodies found in Gaza was the body of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg Polin, expressing his sadness and anger over his death.

Last April, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, published a video recording of prisoner Paulin, in which he attacked Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and accused it of negligence and failure to work to release him and the rest of the detainees.

Before the six bodies were found, Israel said there were still 107 prisoners in Gaza, including a number of dead.

Hamas said in previous statements that dozens of prisoners were killed as a result of Israeli shelling across the Strip during the 11-month war.

With every announcement that the Israeli army has recovered the bodies of prisoners from Gaza, protests in Israel and accusations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing prisoner exchange and ceasefire negotiations escalate.

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