Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met for the first time on Sunday evening with the families of missing and captured Israelis abducted in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, as relatives sharply criticized the government for abandoning those held in Gaza have.
On Saturday, National Security Council chief Tzachi Hanegbi said that “Israel will not negotiate with an enemy that we have vowed to wipe out from the face of the earth.”
In response, a forum of families with loved ones believed to be held hostage in Gaza issued a statement criticizing the government for “effectively saying it is abandoning its kidnapped citizens leaves.”
Last week, protests also took place outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, demanding action against the 150 to 200 citizens held captive in Gaza. The IDF said on Saturday that it had recovered the remains of Israelis missing in “local raids” in Gaza since the Hamas attack last week, but did not elaborate.
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Early Sunday, Netanyahu opened a newly expanded Cabinet meeting with a moment of silence for the more than 1,300 people killed since Hamas’ massive, deadly invasion just over a week ago.
“Hamas thought we would break Hamas – we will break Hamas,” Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting.
“We are working around the clock, as a team, as a united front,” Netanyahu said, citing the presence of five new ministers given the recent inclusion of Benny Gantz’s National Unity party in the emergency government.
“The unity among us sends a clear message to our people, to the enemy and to the world,” Netanyahu added. “I saw our great soldiers who are now on the front lines. They know that the entire nation is behind them. They understand the scope of the mission. They are always ready to take action to defeat the bloodthirsty monsters that have risen against us to destroy us.”
Gantz, a former defense minister and former IDF chief, announced last week that he would join an emergency government to direct Israel’s actions during the current war. Along with Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, he is also a member of the narrow war cabinet that will control the conflict.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid has repeatedly refused to bring his Yesh Atid party into government unless Netanyahu fires far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. On Saturday, the Likud announced that Israel-Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman had agreed to join the government. However, Liberman later said he would not join unless he was also granted a place on the narrow War Council.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and members of the National Emergency Government observe a minute’s silence to remember the victims of the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on October 15, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
National Unity MP Matan Kahana wrote on Sunday that now that his party is in government, “they must prove themselves worthy of it.”
Kahana wrote that in recent days he has visited the wounded, attended funerals and made consolation visits, while also meeting with IDF soldiers at the front.
“These people gave everything they could give. Some will remain wounded in body and soul for the rest of their lives,” Kahana wrote. “Some gave their lives. Now it’s our turn – now it’s the leadership’s turn to prove we are worthy of them.”
Hamas terrorists launched a brutal attack against southern Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,300 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 150 to 200 people whose fate is unknown.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said about 2,329 Palestinians had been killed and 9,042 injured in Israeli retaliatory attacks in the Gaza Strip as of Sunday.
The IDF says it killed about 1,500 Palestinian terrorists on Israeli territory after they breached the border fence and went on a rampage in southern Israel.