Biden, Britain pile pressure on Israel's Netanyahu over Gaza
Pressure mounted Monday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a major strike was held and US President Joe Biden said he was not doing enough to secure the release of Gaza hostages, following the killing of six captives.
Britain also said it would suspend some arms exports to Israel, citing a "clear risk" that they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant posted on X that he was "deeply disheartened" by London's decision.
He said it "comes at a time when we fight a war on 7 different fronts" and "when we mourn 6 hostages who were executed in cold blood by Hamas inside tunnels in Gaza".
At a televised press conference, Netanyahu said he sought forgiveness for failing to save the six hostages.
"I ask for your forgiveness for not bringing them back alive," he said.
"We were close but we didn't succeed. Hamas will pay a very heavy price for this."
In Washington, Biden met US negotiators working alongside Qatar and Egypt to try to secure a truce deal that would free hostages in Gaza in return for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
A White House statement said he expressed "his devastation and outrage" at the killings of the six hostages.
His Vice President and the Democratic candidate for November's US presidential election Kamala Harris condemned the killings, saying "Hamas leaders will pay" but added it was "long past time for a ceasefire and hostage deal".
Ahead of the meeting, Biden had said negotiators were "very close" to a final proposal to be presented to Israel and Hamas.
Netanyahu said Monday Israel must retain control of the key Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border -- a significant sticking point in negotiations.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told parliament in London the UK would suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel.
The partial ban covered items "which could be used in the current conflict in Gaza", including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, he said.
Lammy also reiterated Britain's support for Israel's defence, stressing that the suspension would not have a "material impact on Israel's security".
Israelis were gripped by grief and fury after the military said Sunday the bodies of six hostages, all captured alive during Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war, were recovered from southern Gaza.
The health ministry said post-mortems showed the six had been "murdered... with several close-range gunshots" shortly before they were found.
- 'Believed in co-existence' -
A strike announced by the main trade union seeking a deal to secure the remaining captives' release brought parts of Israel to a standstill Monday, although some cities were largely unaffected.
An Israeli court on Monday ordered an immediate end to the strike called by the Histadrut union federation, calling it "politically motivated".
The labour court ruling came after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich -- a far-right leader who opposes a truce in the Gaza war -- called on the court to move to ban the strike.
The union is authorised to call strikes only for economic reasons and workers' rights, not over political issues.
Alongside the surging domestic anger, diplomatic pressure has also grown, with Biden on Monday delivering some of his strongest criticism of Netanyahu.
Asked by reporters if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough on the issue, he replied: "No."
At mass rallies late Sunday, hostages' relatives called for a truce deal to help free the dozens still captive.
Histadrut called a nationwide strike Monday "for the return" of the remaining 97 hostages, including 33 the military says are dead.
Tel Aviv and the northern coastal city of Haifa heeded the strike call, but in Jerusalem and some other cities, life appeared to go on as usual.
AFPTV footage showed thousands of people turned out for a second consecutive night in Tel Aviv for protests demanding a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Of 251 hostages seized on October 7, just eight have been rescued alive by Israeli forces, although scores were released during a one-week truce in November -- the only one so far.
Israel named the killed hostages as US-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino and Russian-Israeli Alexander Lobanov.
On Monday, Jean-Marc Liling, a friend of Goldberg-Polin's family, told AFP he had been someone "who believed in co-existence with Palestinians".
- 'Stop everything' -
On the ground in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, the fighting raged on Monday, the second day of localised "humanitarian pauses" to facilitate a vaccination drive after the first confirmed polio case in 25 years.
An AFP correspondent reported overnight air strikes, and the civil defence agency said an Israeli strike near a school in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed five people.
Louise Wateridge, spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 87,000 children received a first vaccine dose on Sunday in central Gaza.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini called the inoculation campaign a "race against time to reach just over 600,000 children" in the war-torn territory of 2.4 million people.
Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, visited Gaza Monday and said "civilians continue to bear the brunt of this conflict".
"I unequivocally condemn the horrifying civilian death toll in Gaza."
Israel's military campaign against Hamas has so far killed at least 40,738 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
The October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
- West Bank raids -
The war has sent regional tensions soaring, with violence surging in Israel's border area with Lebanon and in the occupied West Bank.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said Monday at least 26 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched simultaneous raids on Wednesday across the northern West Bank. Militant groups have claimed 14 of the dead as members.
Three Israeli police officers were also killed in a shooting Sunday in the southern West Bank.
Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south Monday killed two people.
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