5/8/2025–|Last update: 17:54 (Mecca time)
Israeli media dealt with increasing calls from security and political figures and families of soldiers who were killed or captured in the Gaza Strip calling for the government to immediately move towards direct negotiations with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), with the aim of ending the war and returning the prisoners, in light of a growing conviction that the absence of Israeli initiatives is what prolongs the suffering.
The media and strategic advisor, Haim Robinstein, stressed that Israel has not yet tried a comprehensive initiative on the negotiating table, asking the reason for insisting on accusing Hamas of refusing without any concrete proposals to it, and said, “They called Hamas to reject it, but at least let us start with an Israeli initiative.”
In turn, Lear Lutan, the former prisoner and kidnapped coordinator in the prime minister’s office, stressed the need to change the negotiation approach completely, and suggested that direct talks between two military powers during which Gaza’s files, prisoners and military arrangements are discussed to end the war, considering that the time has come to try this path instead of relying on brokers.
The father of the Israeli prisoner, Over Braslavski, said that Hamas’s position on the exchange deal is clear and consistent since the beginning of the war, indicating that she has repeatedly announced her willingness to release all prisoners and end the fighting, which has not been met with real move from the Israeli side until now.
As for Yazher tea – the father of one of the soldiers who were killed in Gaza – he made a sharp appeal to the Israeli families, calling them to the “revolution” and the immediate action to save the soldiers in the Strip, saying, “I say it in the simplest way and with the utmost pain: go and save your soldiers.”
Clashes in Knesset
The discussions permeated clear tension, as the Knesset member of the Likud party attacked the voices of negative voices by negotiating with Hamas, and described it as complicating the possibility of restoring the prisoners, to develop the verbal confrontation with the families of the prisoners to the point of saying repeatedly “shut up”.
In parallel with political records, voices escalated from the world of culture, as about a thousand artists and intellectuals signed a petition calling for the cessation of the war in the Gaza Strip.
The signatories expressed their rejection of massacres, starvation and wide destruction, saying that they feel that they are partners – and if that despite their will – in responsibility for what is happening to the Palestinians.
On the other hand, a former senior Israeli army officer expressed a completely different opinion, as the former head of the tactical fighting unit, Dr. Darr Shalom, called for a policy of “fire and smoke”, waving a letter with an incitement to extermination, and said, “We must drown Gaza or make it food for fish.”
Israeli media dealt with the clips broadcast by the Palestinian resistance of two Israeli prisoners, one of whom appeared in a deteriorating state inside what appears to be a tunnel, in conjunction with reports of targeting civilians while trying to reach food aid.
Israeli reports stated that these scenes did not have wide coverage in the international media, and considered that Hamas seeks to influence international public opinion through what it describes as a propaganda campaign focused on the humanitarian situation.
The former spokesman for the Israeli government, Elon Levy, acknowledged the success of the Hamas novel, explaining that the absence of decisive Israeli responses to these clips exacerbates the crisis of the image of Israel abroad.
“The kidnapped are an obstacle to the continuation of the war, not only internally, but also in front of the world,” he added.
(Tagstotranslate) News (T) Middle East (T) Arabic (T) Palestine