By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that most fighters of Hamas have been killed or injured since the “terrorist group” invaded the Jewish nation last year, massacring some 1,200 people and injuring many others.
“We have eliminated or wounded 60 percent of the Hamas terrorists” and “dismantled” most the Palestinian group’s 24 battalions, Gallant told the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
He made the announcement after thousands of Israelis protested in recent days, including relatives of hostages, demanding a hostage swap deal with Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip and early parliamentary elections, according to Israeli media.
Protesters chanted: “Deal Now” and raised banners with the slogan. Around 2,000 protested in Caesarea in northern Israel, also demanded a hostage deal and early elections,
As tensions mount, an Israeli government team “will leave next Monday to continue negotiations on the deal,” Israeli sources said.
The head of Israel’s leading intelligence agency, Mossad, David Barnea, traveled to Doha on Friday for meetings with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani about a hostage deal and cease-fire in Gaza.
120 HOSTAGES
After returning to Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that “a negotiating team will depart for Qatar next week to continue discussions on the deal.
Israel estimates around 120 Israelis are held by Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by Israel and most of its Western allies.
More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, primarily women and children, and over 87,700 others have been injured, according to Hamas-run local health authorities.
Israel mentions lower figures and accuses Hamas of deliberately hiding among civilians.
Yet nearly nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins, and United Nations workers say residents face a “crippling blockade” of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel says it does allow aid transports into Gaza but adds that Hamas fighters have been stealing much of the Western goods.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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