Shillong, September 1: The Hostages and Missing Families Forum of Israel has announced major protests across the country on Sunday following the IDF’s claims that it found some corpses that may be the remains of hostages.
The forum in a statement on Saturday late night said, “We vow to bring the country to a grinding halt.”
The statement also said that Prime Minister Netanyahu had abandoned the hostages.
The prominent activist group representing many relatives of hostages held in Gaza called on the public to stage major protests against the government on Sunday.
The forum has been fuelling accusations that the leadership has left the hostages to die in captivity by failing to secure a deal to return them.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a statement called on the public not to spread unnecessary rumours. The statement said, “At this stage, the forces are still operating in the area and carrying out a process to extract and identify the bodies, which will last several hours.”
Leader of Opposition, Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of focusing on insignificant issues as “our sons and daughters are being abandoned and are dying in captivity.”
In a statement, he said, “It’s not the Philadelphi Corridor nor the polio vaccination (in Gaza) that interests him, it’s just the coalition government and continuing the partnership with Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.”
The Israel security cabinet had supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand to not withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor in any deal.
It may be recalled that the Hamas militants had swarmed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, brutally killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 people as hostages. A total of 110 hostages are still in the captivity of Hamas and Israel has officially announced that 39 of these hostages are dead. (IANS)