The Israeli government is currently facing mounting pressure from Israeli citizens as well as the international community as constant calls for a ceasefire and for the Israeli government to prioritise the return of hostages are being made after three Israeli hostages in Gaza were killed in error by Israeli soldiers.
In a live report from Tel Aviv, Israel, ARISE NEWS special correspondent, Karl Bostic, said that the deaths of the captives, which transpired on Friday, had made people refer to that day as the “darkest day of the war,” as the incident had shaken people both in Israel and abroad.
Bostic described the situation, saying, “What happened was you had a situation where because it was an active combat zone where Israeli soldiers were looking for tunnel shafts, were looking to clear buildings in this urban environment, they had abandoned some of their hostages., and they saw that as an opportunity to escape.
“They took off their shirts, they used leftover food to draw in big bright letters in red- Help us, Save us, SOS, we’re Israelis. All of that was written in Hebrew. And they came out with their hands up, waving a white makeshift flag out of a shirt, and instead, the Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. Two of them were killed, and one ran back into the building, and the Israeli soldiers ordered him to come back out. He was screaming in Hebrew that he was Israeli, and he had been a hostage and they still opened fire again and shot and killed him. So, that’s three hostages right there.”
He then said, “People are saying that war has not produced enough to bring back home hostages, in fact, it’s just the opposite. By increasing this war offensive, all you’re doing is bringing back hostages in body bags, that’s why there needs to be negotiations. That’s why there’s so much domestic and public pressure for the Netanyahu government to reprioritize, to put the return of the hostages ahead of the military offensive. Basically, the thinking is this. You can have weeks, months, or even a year to dismount, to destroy Hamas and to kill its leadership, but it’s real hour and hour, day-to-day for hostages who may not be alive the next day because of deteriorating conditions.”
He however revealed that Israel had changed its policy to avoid such deaths again as he said, “Now, Israel is saying it’s changing it protocol, because some are saying that if they had been Palestinian, they would have been shot anyway. So now, they have made a video saying that if you are a Gazan, even if Gazans are holding up a white sheet to surrender, you must not shoot them.”
Speaking on the International calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, Bostic said, “There’s a vote expected to come before the security council, this is like the third or fourth resolution. This one is being tabled by the United Arab Emirates, it’s calling for an urgent and sustainable ceasefire.”
He also noted that the British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, and the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, had written a joint communique over the weekend calling for an urgent and sustainable ceasefire.
He, however mentioned, that there might be a problem with the upcoming vote as the US had vetoed the previous vote brought to the UN in order to bring about a resolution in the war.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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