Israel-Hamas war: Palestinians mourn hostage raid deaths

Israeli politicianBenny Gantz on Sunday announced his resignation from Israel's war Cabinet. 

Gantz joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's emergency government shortly after the Hamas militant Islamist group's attacks in southern Israel on October 7.

"[Benjamin] Netanyahu is preventing us from progressing to a real victory. That is why we are leaving the emergency government today with a heavy heart," Gantz said. Besides Gantz, also in the war Cabinet were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of the ruling right-wing Likud party.

In his address, Gantz urged Gallant to be brave and "do what is right."

Gantz is a former military chief and belongs to the centrist National Unity coalition.

His withdrawal from the war Cabinet is not an immediate threat to the Netanyahu government as Likud is able to govern alongside far-right coalition partners.

The families of those killed by Hamas, or those still being held captive by the militants, have criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for meeting with the four hostages freed from Gaza but not with the relatives of other victims.

The four were picked up from the crowded Nuseirat refugee camp in a major operation by the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday.

"A prime minister with moral values would have called to comfort and strengthen (us). And to apologize for what happened on his watch," the father of a soldier killed on October 7 wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Asked about his opinion of Netanyahu, the father said: "I despise him, a shabby person."

A leading opposition lawmaker added his voice to the criticism:

"When you are prime minister, you are the prime minister of successes and defeats," opposition leader Yair Lapid told Israel's Kan public broadcaster on Sunday.

"To be prime minister only when everything works out and to disappear when everything doesn't go the way you want, that's pathetic."

Turkey has denounced Israel's operation to free its hostages in the Gaza Strip as a "barbaric attack" and accused Israel of war crimes. 

"With this latest barbaric attack, Israel has added a new one to the list of war crimes it has committed in Gaza," the Foreign Ministry in Ankara said on Sunday, without mentioning the hostage rescue. 

The EU's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell also spoke of "reports from Gaza of another massacre of civilians," which he said was "appalling."

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he said, "This bloodbath must end immediately."

On Saturday, Israel's military freed four people kidnapped from Israel during the October 7 massacres.

They were found in Nuseirat, in the center of the Gaza Strip, eight months after being taken captive. 

Heavy airstrikes and artillery fire accompanied the rescue mission and Hamas has said hundreds of Palestinians were killed or wounded. The information could not be independently verified. 

Television pictures showed massive casualties and an overwhelmed hospital.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 37,084 people have been killed in the territory during more than eight months of war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

It said the toll includes at least 274 deaths in Saturday's Israeli raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp in which four hostages were rescued alive.

The ministry said the Nuseirat fatalities, which are impossible to verify independently, included at least 64 children and teenagers, 57 women and 37 elderly people.

Another 698 people were wounded during the operation, the ministry said, including 153 children, 161 women and 54 elderly Palestinians.

The ministry also said that at least 84,494 Gazans have been wounded since the war broke out on October 7.

Hamas has been labeled a terrorist organization by Israel, Germany, the United States and others.

Pope Francis has reiterated his appeal for humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in Gaza urgently.

During his Sunday noon blessing, Francis also thanked Jordan, which will host an international humanitarian aid conference for Palestinians this week.

"I encourage the international community to act urgently, with all means, to come to the aid of the people of Gaza, worn out by the war," he said. "Humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need, and no one can impede it."

Francis also urged Israel and Hamas to immediately accept proposals for a cease-fire and the release of hostages. But he noted that the negotiations "are not easy."

"I hope that the peace proposals on all fronts that have been presented and for the release of hostages will be accepted immediately for the sake of the Palestinians and Israelis," the pope said.

Francis also recalled that Saturday marked the 10-year anniversary of a peace prayer he hosted in the Vatican Gardens, attended by then-Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

"This meeting showed that shaking hands is possible, and that to make peace, you need courage — much more courage than to make war."

Hamas officials have claimed that the Israeli military operation that freed four people held hostage in Gaza claimed 274 Palestinian lives and injured hundreds more.

The figures cannot be independently verified, but the raid took place in broad daylight in a busy market area.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a mission Saturday to rescue the four, who were taken captive from a music festival in southern Israel by the Palestinian militant group on October 7.

The hostages were picked up from the crowded Nuseirat refugee camp and evacuated by helicopter.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry labeled the operation the "Nuseirat massacre."

Hamas also claimed without providing evidence that other Israeli hostages were killed during the rescue.

mm/nm (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)