Great BritainProtests for hostage deal - shocking video from Gaza Strip
SDA
11.9.2024 - 05:31
Following the release of an army video from the Gaza Strip, the call for an agreement to release the remaining hostages is gaining new urgency.
Keystone-SDA
11.09.2024, 05:31
SDA
In Tel Aviv, hundreds of people once again demonstrated for a deal between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas to bring the kidnapped back home. The Israeli army had previously released a video showing the tunnel in the Gaza Strip in which six Israeli Hamas hostages had been held captive and killed. The indirect negotiations for the release of the hostages in the Gaza Strip, in which the USA, Egypt and Qatar are mediating, have been going round in circles for months.
Meanwhile, the USA is calling on Israel's security forces to make "fundamental changes" to their approach in the West Bank. The reason for this is the death of a US citizen who was killed during protests. The Israeli military admitted that it was responsible for the death of the pro-Palestinian activist in the West Bank last week. According to Israeli sources, she was shot unintentionally.
Video shows pools of blood in hostage tunnel
In the video released by the military, army spokesman Daniel Hagari describes the oppressive conditions in the tunnel from which the six hostage bodies were recovered at the beginning of September. Hagari says that the way down into the tunnel, which is 20 meters deep, leads from an entrance in a children's room via ladders. He is standing in a bombed-out room with colorful cartoon characters still visible on the walls. The narrow and low tunnel leads over a length of around 120 meters to an iron door. "This is where the hostages were held captive and murdered," says Hagari in the video, which is around three and a half minutes long.
The army spokesman shows seized material - weapons magazines, batteries and Hamas editions of the Koran, a chess set and items of clothing. "This is their blood," says Hagari in the video, pointing to large dark stains on the floor of the tunnel. "They were here, for weeks and months, in this tunnel without air, where you can't stand upright." There are still 101 hostages held by Hamas, "some of them alive" and trapped in similar tunnels.
Relatives: the recording is shocking
In a statement, the Forum of Relatives said that the recording was shocking. The remaining hostages had to endure "unimaginable suffering". And: "Every day that passes is a danger to their lives, which are hanging by a thread."
During the protests for a deal with Hamas, the father of a hostage who was killed said that "the Jewish ideal of saving a life is above all else". He had come to join the cry of the 101 families of the hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip, "of whom I am no longer one", he was quoted as saying by the Haaretz newspaper.
USA insists on changes to Israel's actions in the West Bank
Following the death of the activist with American-Turkish citizenship in the West Bank, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the Israeli military to make "fundamental changes" to its approach, including its rules on the use of weapons. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also called on his Israeli counterpart Joav Gallant in a phone call to review the military's rules of engagement in the West Bank.
"We have long seen reports of security forces looking the other way when extremist settlers use violence against Palestinians. We have seen reports of excessive force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians and now we have the second US citizen killed by Israeli security forces. This is unacceptable," Blinken said in London.
The Israeli military had announced that it deeply regretted the death of the activist and was investigating the incident. The shots fired by the soldiers were aimed at the main perpetrator of the violent protests. According to reporters, US President Joe Biden said: "It was obviously an accident." The woman had been hit by accident.
Trump and Harris exchange blows on the Middle East
The conflict in the Middle East was also discussed during the first TV duel between the two US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. "If she is president, I believe that Israel will no longer exist in two years", Trump said about his Democratic opponent. "She hates Israel and at the same time, in her own way, the Arab population, because everything will blow up."
During the debate, Harris condemned the massacre of around 1,200 people killed by Hamas and other terrorists in Israel on October 7, which triggered the Gaza war. Against this backdrop, she once again emphasized Israel's right to defend itself, but at the same time said that far too many innocent Palestinians - including children and mothers - had been killed in the Gaza war. "What we do know is that this war must end," said Harris. An agreement is needed for a ceasefire and the release of hostages from the hands of Hamas. Harris spoke out in favor of a two-state solution that would create security for both Israel and the Palestinians.
The Gaza war is an important issue in the US election campaign. In view of the devastating situation of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and the high number of civilian casualties, there is harsh criticism of Israel's military action in the USA.