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Times Of Israel
Times Of Israel
20 Jan 2024


NextImg:IDF drops leaflets with pictures of hostages over southern Gaza, seeking info

As the Israel Defense Forces pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, air force planes dropped leaflets on the southern area of Rafah urging Palestinians seeking refuge there to help locate hostages held by Hamas, residents said.

In Rafah, where over a million Palestinians are taking shelter, Israel dropped leaflets showing photos of 33 hostages, their names written in Arabic, urging the displaced to make contact. “Do you want to return home? Please make the call if you recognize one of them,” the leaflets read.

“They are asking people’s help because they are unable to get to their hostages because of the resistance,” said Abu Ali, a north Gaza resident. “End the war, Netanyahu, and get your people back,” he told Reuters.

War erupted after Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern communities, massacring some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping over 240 others. Israel then launched a massive military operation aimed at vanquishing Hamas and returning the hostages.

It is believed that 132 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November. Four hostages were released prior to that, and one was rescued by troops. The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. The Israel Defense Forces has confirmed the deaths of 27 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.

One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.

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Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

The IDF has made use of leaflets to encourage Gazans to share information on hostages’ whereabouts throughout the war, as well as on the location of Hamas leaders, placing sizeable bounties on the enclave’s arch-terrorists.

In Israel, families of hostages camped outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in the coastal city of Caesarea Friday night, urging the government to agree to a deal to free the captives.

“He needs to choose one [deal] and end the hostage saga,” said Eli Shtivi, whose son Idan is being held in Gaza.

The protest came after Hebrew media reports said Netanyahu unilaterally decided Wednesday to toughen a series of guidelines set recently by the government for a potential deal to release the remaining hostages, angering fellow members of the war cabinet.

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As January 14 marked 100 days since the beginning of the war and the hostages’ abduction, the war cabinet was reportedly split on the parameters it would accept for a hostage deal. War cabinet observer Gadi Eisenkot was pushing for a long truce in exchange for hostages’ freedom, which his National Unity party leader Benny Gantz supported, but Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were strongly opposed, according to Channel 12 and other outlets.

Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly said that the only way to get the hostages back is to keep applying military pressure on Gaza by continuing the war.