Israel denies Hamas's claims to have taken Israeli soldier 'prisoner'
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 You know, as ever with these sort of things in Gaza, where journalists are not able to
00:04 get access, there is always a cloud of obscurity over what's going on.
00:09 But what Hamas is claiming is that they captured a small Israeli patrol, I think in the Jabalia
00:16 camp, and dragged them into a tunnel after a fight, and are now detaining them.
00:23 According to the Israeli defense forces, however, that's simply not true.
00:27 They completely deny the claim made by Hamas.
00:31 So at this stage, that is all we know.
00:34 Meanwhile, Rob, tensions rising in Israel.
00:37 Soldiers have recently recovered the bodies of three Israeli hostages, hundreds of mourners
00:41 gathering for a funeral service in Ashkelon.
00:44 And Rob, scuffles broke out at the weekly rallies in Tel Aviv, where protesters have
00:49 been demanding the government do more to secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas.
00:54 Tell us more about that.
00:56 Yeah, I mean, there were demonstrations last night all over Israel, the biggest, as you
01:04 point out, in Tel Aviv, where the organizers are claiming that as many as 80,000 people
01:09 took part.
01:10 And this, I think, follows a number of things that have happened over the last few days.
01:16 First of all, the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, rather,
01:23 telling Israel to stop its military operation in Rafa.
01:27 Then also the release of video material of five military observers, field observers,
01:33 women who were taken captive by Hamas on the 7th of October.
01:39 That was the first time that had been seen in Israel.
01:41 And it shocked society.
01:43 In large part, I think the response at the weekend last night in Tel Aviv is to that,
01:50 and also to remarks put out by the IDF, by the Israeli Defense Forces Leadership Command
01:57 last week, that at least on four occasions last year, in other words, before the 7th
02:03 of October, they warned Benjamin Netanyahu that Hamas was watching carefully the rift
02:09 in Israeli society as a consequence of the judicial overhaul that he was proposing, and
02:14 that it would act in some way.
02:16 So people are accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of ignoring the signs.
02:22 That is perhaps why we're seeing this current surge of anger from the demonstrators and
02:28 the renewal of demands for Israel to start negotiating in earnest for the release of