Netanyahu vows to bring back all hostages, 'the living and the dead,' 52 Palestinians killed according to rescue services

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, promised on Monday to bring back all the hostages, "the living and the dead," held by Hamas in Gaza, at a time when his army is intensely bombing the Palestinian territory, causing at least 52 deaths according to rescue services.

On May 17, Israel intensified its offensive with the stated aim of freeing the last hostages, taking control of all of Gaza, and annihilating Hamas, which took power in the Palestinian territory in 2007.

"If we don’t succeed today, we will succeed tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after; we do not give up [...] We intend to bring them all back, the living and the dead," Netanyahu declared in a speech closing the "Jerusalem Day" festivities. "Our mission [to win the war], including to bring back the hostages, is with us day and night [...] We do not give it up," he added.

These statements come as pressure mounts on Israel to cease its offensive in the besieged, starved, and devastated Palestinian territory after more than 19 months of war.

Netanyahu had earlier in a video broadcast on his Telegram channel expressed "hope" to make an announcement regarding the hostages "today or tomorrow," without providing further details.

'Fear, horror, confusion'

Before these declarations, a Hamas source claimed that the movement had accepted a proposal from Witkoff providing "a 70-day truce in exchange for the release of ten hostages in two stages."

According to another Palestinian source, "10 living hostages will be released in exchange for a 70-day truce, a partial [Israeli] withdrawal from Gaza [and] the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners."

In the north of the Gaza Strip, the target of new Israeli bombings, 33 Palestinians, mostly children, were killed at the Fahmi al-Jarjawi School in Gaza City, and 19 in a strike on a house in Jabalia, according to the local Civil Defense.

"It is indescribable: fear, horror, confusion, screaming children, the smell of burning flesh, the smell of charred objects, the smell of sulfur, and there was blood everywhere," recounts Farah Nasser, awakened by the strike on the school.

Protests

"I have never seen so many explosion-related injuries in my life [...]" also "among very young children," stated Victoria Rose, a member of a British medical delegation at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis [south].

The Israeli escalation and the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza facing shortages of food, water, and medicine are feeding growing international outrage.

In a rare attack, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz threatened to no longer support the Netanyahu government. "I frankly don’t understand what the Israeli army is doing in Gaza."

Berlin will continue to sell weapons to Israel, assured its Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul. The Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre spoke of "probably the worst humanitarian attack on civilians," referring to Gaza.

'We are hungry!'

The approximately 2.4 million residents of the Palestinian territory, displaced several times, have been besieged for over 19 months by Israel. After more than two months of a total blockade of humanitarian aid, Israel allowed trickles of deliveries last week.

On Monday, the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation [GHF], backed by the United States, announced it had started its food deliveries into the Palestinian territory, promising that "the aid flow will increase every day."

The organization, with whom the U.N. and NGOs refuse to work, also denounced "death threats made by Hamas against groups supporting humanitarian operations at the GHF’s secure distribution sites, and maneuvers intended to prevent Gaza residents from accessing aid at these sites." "We are hungry and thirsty. For God's sake, we want to eat," exclaims Ibrahim Bakr, a resident of Gaza.

At least 53,977 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed since the beginning of the Israeli offensive against Gaza, according to data from the enclave’s Health Ministry.