Israel mourns dead hostages
Doubts grow over truce plan for Gaza
TEL AVIV: Israel yesterday mourned four captives reported dead in Gaza by the army amid growing doubts and international pressure over a plan for a ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden.
In the besieged Palestinian territory, Israeli strikes continued early yesterday, particularly in Bureij in central Gaza where local hospital sources reported several deaths.
Israel’s military on Monday announced the deaths in Gaza of four hostages seized during the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel, naming them as Chaim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell. Their bodies were still in the hands of Hamas, it added.
Cooper, 84, Metzger, 80, and Perry, 80, were abducted from the Nir Oz kibbutz while Israeli-British citizen Popplewell, 51, was kidnapped from the Nirim kibbutz.
British foreign minister David Cameron said he was “greatly saddened to hear about the death” of Popplewell, adding: “we reiterate our demand for Hamas to send all hostages home”.
Mr Netanyahu, a hawkish veteran leading a fragile hard-right coalition government, is under intense domestic pressure from multiple sides.
Relatives and supporters of hostages have staged mass protests demanding a truce deal — but his far-right coalition allies are threatening to bring down the government if he agrees to that.
Mr Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would end the bloody conflict, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power.
However, Mr Netanyahu’s office stressed that the war would continue until all of Israel’s “goals are achieved”, including the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.
The G7 group of countries said in a statement its leaders “fully endorse” the deal pushed by Mr Biden, and called on Hamas to accept it.
Hamas on Friday said it viewed Mr Biden’s outline “positively”, but has since made no official comment on stalled negotiations, while mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have not announced any new talks.
Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt issued a statement on Monday backing the latest diplomatic effort.
UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland yesterday urged all parties to reach an agreement after he visited Gaza and “witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of the hostilities. The scenes of destruction & suffering of people are heart-wrenching”.
“There is no alternative — and any delay, every day simply costs more lives,” he posted on X.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer earlier quoted Mr Netanyahu as saying that the outline Mr Biden presented was only “partial”, and that under the plan fighting would only stop temporarily “for the purpose of returning the hostages”.
The fighting showed no sign of easing, with the war that has devastated the territory of 2.4 million people soon to enter its ninth month.