After families of the hostages held in Gaza gathered in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday and called for the resignation of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote in a scathing editorial on Tuesday that Netanyahu “should not be in power anymore” as if it were some sort of “divine decree.” Instead, “the political establishment must find a way to put an end to Netanyahu’s malignant rule,” the editorial asserted. “The price that Israel will pay for his continued reign is too high.”
Highlighting a litany of errors committed by the prime minister since the start of Israel’s “war” on Hamas, including his statement that calls earlier this year for military reservists to refuse to serve should be investigated as a possible factor affecting Hamas’s decision to attack Israel on October 7, Haaretz called upon the PM to “just leave.”
“Netanyahu is interfering with the state’s defense of itself from the disaster that he, in his indescribable nihilism, brought down on it,” the editorial stated.
It ripped Netanyahu as “the father of the doctrine that shattered into pieces on October 7, the person who was responsible for Israel’s security, who was prime minister for 12 of the past 14 years, who refused repeated requests from the defense establishment to halt the government coup,” calling him “an angel of sabotage” for Israel.
Thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv’s newly renamed “Hostage Square” on Saturday evening to show their support for the families of the hundreds of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, and calling for Netanyahu’s resignation, the Times of Israel reported. Recent polls have revealed a startling 70 to 80 percent of Israelis believe that Netanyahu should step down after the war.
On Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces tweeted a video showing crowds of Palestinians leaving their homes in northern Gaza walking to the southern side of the enclave, crossing the Saladin Highway, in response to repeated orders by the Israeli army to leave the area.
With the rising carnage of Palestinian civilians, the US position on the war seems to be softening, even as it continues to support Israel’s “right to defend itself.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who recently returned from a visit to the region, said that conditions for “durable peace and security” must be established in Gaza, with “no reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends, [and] no attempts to blockade or besiege Gaza.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry said today that 214 individuals have been killed in just the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll from Israel’s attacks since October 7 to 10,569, including 4,324 children. At least 2,550 Palestinians, including 1,350 children, are missing, and the number of injured has surged to 26,475.