Conflict: Without the release of the hostages, the war "will continue without respite" in Gaza, warns the Israeli army

If the Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip are not released, the "fighting will continue without respite," warned Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir during a visit to his troops in the Palestinian territory.

"I believe that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages. Otherwise, the fighting will continue unabated," Lieutenant General Zamir said in an army statement.

"Widespread famine"

The chief of staff "conducted a field visit and an assessment of the situation" in the Gaza Strip on Friday, according to the statement. "The war continues, and we will adapt it to the changing reality according to our interests," he added, judging that "the successes achieved offer us operational flexibility."

The war was triggered by the attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 49 remain hostages in Gaza, 27 of whom have been declared dead by the army.

Israel's reprisals have left at least 60,332 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from Hamas's Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN. Eighty-nine Israeli soldiers have also been killed since then, according to the army's official tally. The Gaza Strip, under Israeli blockade, is now threatened with "widespread famine," according to the UN, and is totally dependent on humanitarian aid distributed by truck or dropped from the air.

"The current campaign of false accusations regarding intentional starvation is a deliberate, planned, and mendacious attempt to accuse the IDF — a moral army — of war crimes," the chief of staff denounced. "Those responsible for the killings and suffering of the residents of the Gaza Strip are Hamas," he reiterated.

This visit to Gaza comes as the Israeli army has been redeploying its troops in the Palestinian territory for several days. The publication of two hostage videos by Islamic Jihad and then Hamas in just two days has sparked a stir in Israel and rekindled debate over the need to reach a negotiated agreement between the government and Hamas as quickly as possible to secure the release of all the hostages.

"We must stop the Israeli government"

"The videos published over the past two days are breaking and upsetting us," lamented the mother of a hostage, Einav Zangauker, on Saturday. "Our children are living through a Holocaust (...)," she commented, calling for a rally this Saturday in Tel Aviv, alongside other hostage families, symbolically "behind a barbed wire fence."

On Saturday morning, there were several hundred people, some dressed in black and holding photos of their loved ones, in this Tel Aviv square, symbolically renamed "hostage square" and now the gathering place for the families of the kidnapped and protesters demanding an end to hostilities.

"The war must end. The Israeli government will not end the war of its own free will. (...) It must be stopped. For us, for our soldiers, for our hostages," declared Yotam Cohen, brother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, during a rally Saturday morning in this Tel Aviv square, symbolically renamed "Hostages' Square." "All actions must be taken to stop the Israeli government, obtain a ceasefire, end the war. There is no more time. Nothing is working," he pleaded.