Benjamin Netanyahu pushes back against growing pressure to get hostages home

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Netanyahu remains defiant in the face of internal pressure calling for him to make a hostage release deal with Hamas inside Gaza. Even US President Joe Biden has confessed he believes Mr Netanyahu isn't doing enough to get a deal done.

Transcript

00:00For the second day in a row, Israelis have taken to the streets to shut down areas in

00:07central Tel Aviv in these mass anti-government protests.

00:11You can hear them shouting in anger and frustration.

00:15They've come out in their thousands to protest against the government and what they say is

00:21a lack of progress on hostage release negotiations in Gaza.

00:25Some of these people blame the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for the deaths of six

00:32hostages whose bodies were recovered this week from Gaza.

00:36Hostages which the military says were alive until just days before their bodies were found.

00:42Now, this development has really propelled hundreds of thousands of people to try to

00:47shut down Israel, to pressure the government to make a hostage release deal with Hamas

00:53no matter the price.

00:55They accuse the Prime Minister of prioritising revenge in Gaza over the hostages' lives.

01:01These are innocent people that were abducted from the place that was supposed to be the

01:06most safe for them.

01:09So we've been here and we feel heartbroken.

01:11Our government does not see us.

01:13Terrible.

01:14Terrible.

01:15Terrible.

01:16They need to go and we need another government here.

01:21It's not only here in Israel that there's criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu.

01:27The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has also said that he doesn't believe Mr Netanyahu

01:35is doing everything he can to make a hostage release deal, which is quite a damning statement

01:41in itself.

01:42Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his actions, vowing to continue the war and to keep his

01:49troops inside the Gaza Strip.

01:51There's such a sense of grief and shock and loss and anger here, but there's also a determination.

01:58These people say this is more than about the hostages, it's about the future of their country

02:05and what they want Israel to be.

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