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Palestinians inspect damage around Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday.Credit...Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
Decomposing bodies. Mountains of rubble. Burned buildings. One man described what he found upon returning to Al-Shifa Hospital after Israeli soldiers ended a two-week raid at the Gaza Strip’s largest medical complex.
“As soon as you approach Al-Shifa Hospital, you’re hit with the stench of decomposing bodies,” said Osama al-Ashi, who went to the area to check on his apartment after he heard that the Israeli military had withdrawn. He added in a phone call, “The whole time we were walking, we were stepping on body parts.”
Mr. al-Ashi said that many of the bodies were those of people who had been shot during the raid and left where they fell. Others, he said, were dug up when Israeli forces bulldozed temporary cemeteries inside the hospital grounds.
“The scenes there were difficult to tolerate as a human being,” he said. “You feel like you are in a horror movie.”
He said that the hospital’s buildings remained standing but were completely charred, turning Gaza’s largest hospital into “skeletons of buildings rendered completely useless.” Mr. al-Ashi added that at the hospital, “The medical equipment, the beds, the administrative buildings — everywhere, everything is burned.”
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Charred beds at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday.Credit...Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
Many buildings around the hospital had been destroyed by bombs, missiles and tank shells. “It’s very rare to find a house still standing,” he said.
Mr. al-Ashi and his family lived less than a mile from the hospital and fled their apartment on the eighth day of Israel’s assault. When he arrived to check his apartment on Monday, he said, it was “unlivable” because the water and electricity lines had been destroyed and its doors and windows shattered.
Instead of moving back in, as he had hoped, Mr. al-Ashi and his family packed up as many of their belongings as they could and returned to the apartment they fled to last week.
Mr. al-Ashi’s testimony echoes what was reported by Wafa, the official Palestinian Authority news agency.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, blamed the destruction on the militants, saying they had fortified themselves inside hospital wards, fired on soldiers and refused calls to surrender. “We had to fire on the buildings in order to stop that and to kill the terrorists,” he said.
Fadi Afanah, the head of ambulance services at the hospital, was not there during the raid but went back after Israeli forces withdrew to help treat the patients and the injured. “Hundreds of the injured are suffering disastrous conditions,” he said. “Wounds of so many cases are beyond treatment due to gangrene now.”
But treating them at the hospital seemed impossible. “They left nothing. No single ambulance nor one facility survived, except the human resources department,” Mr. Afanah said.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
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Hiba Yazbek and
Abu Bakr Bashir
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A demonstrator against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Tel Aviv on Sunday.Credit...Hannah McKay/Reuters
As the war between Israel and Hamas approaches the six-month mark, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is confronting rising pressure on multiple fronts, at home and abroad.
He has encountered resistance from protesters, relatives of hostages held by militants in Gaza, the international community, and elements of his own governing coalition, as criticism mounts over his prosecution of the war against Hamas.
“He’s facing a pile-on,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, a political scientist based in Tel Aviv. “But he's responding with maximum possible defiance and minimum possible decision-making.”
Although many Israelis have refrained from protesting against the government during the war, thousands of Israelis on Sunday thronged streets in Jerusalem beside the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, to call for early elections, in one of the most significant demonstrations against Mr. Netanyahu’s government since the war began in October.
Mr. Netanyahu has managed to serve longer than any prime minister in Israel’s history in part because of his political savvy. But his popularity was already in decline before the war, over a judicial overhaul that prompted some of the biggest protests in Israel’s history. It suffered another heavy blow when the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas revealed serious security failings.
He has fired back at people calling for elections, arguing they would paralyze the country for at least six months and prevent it from achieving its aims in the war, which he has said includes a “complete victory” over Hamas.
In recent weeks, some relatives of hostages have expressed dismay at Mr. Netanyahu’s handling of indirect negotiations with Hamas aimed at achieving the release their loved ones and a cease-fire. The prime minister, they so, is so determined to pursue the destruction of Hamas that he might do it at the expense of the hostages.
“You are torpedoing the deal,” Einav Zangauker, the mother of a hostage, told a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday. “You failed on Oct. 7 and you are failing today.”
As if to underline his troubles, Mr. Netanyahu was hospitalized on Sunday to undergo hernia surgery.
He has said that Hamas was sticking to unrealistic demands, and that those who think he hasn’t been doing enough to secure the release of the hostages were wrong.
Mr. Netanyahu has also faced pushback abroad over his policies, especially those that have led to the enormous civilian death toll and destruction.
In February, President Biden called Israel’s military operations “over the top” and said the suffering of innocent civilians has “got to stop.” Several world leaders have also warned Israel against a planned ground offensive into Rafah, the southern Gaza city where most of the enclave’s population has sought refuge, and the Biden administration has said a major operation there would be a mistake.
The U.S. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the highest-ranking elected Jewish official in the United States, went further than any senior American leader in publicly rebuking Mr. Netanyahu,
delivering a scathing speech in mid-March that accused him of letting his political survival supersede “the best interests of Israel” and of being “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza.”
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Ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated on Monday against serving in the military in Bnei Brak, Israel.Credit...Oren Ziv/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Within his government, Mr. Netanyahu has been dealing with divisions over whether ultra-Orthodox Jews should retain their longstanding exemption from military service.
An unwieldy right-wing alliance of secular and ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, the coalition’s members are divided about whether the state should continue to allow young ultra-Orthodox men to study at religious seminaries instead of serving in the military, as most other Jewish Israelis do.
If the government abolishes the exemption, it risks a walkout from the ultra-Orthodox lawmakers; if it lets the exemption stand, the secular members could withdraw. Either way, the coalition could collapse, forcing elections.
Patrick Kingsley contributed reporting to this article.
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Adam Rasgon
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Tents of protesters camped outside of the Parliament building, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on Monday.Credit...Atef Safadi/EPA, via Shutterstock
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Anti-government protesters arrested near the Parliament in Jerusalem.Credit...Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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Protesters near the Parliament in Jerusalem on Monday.Credit...Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Hundreds of small silver tents were clustered on the pavement outside Israel’s Parliament in Jerusalem on Monday, stretching at least a city block. Many had Israeli flags taped to their roofs, along with stickers bearing slogans. “There is no greater mitzvah than the reception of captives,” reads one. Another is more to the point, saying simply: “ELECTIONS.”
The tents are temporary homes for some of the thousands of Israelis who
began a four-day protest on Sunday night calling for early elections to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many of them believe he has put his political survival ahead of the broader interests of the Israeli people.
Another night of protest was not long off, and the encamped demonstrators were resting and preparing. Some dozed in tents or relaxed in the shade of trees.
When asked why he had camped out overnight, Haggai Schwartz, 47, said there were “too many issues” with the current Israeli government. And the events of Oct. 7 — a date emblazoned on his black T-shirt, above a large drop of blood — made the need for change all the more urgent, he said.
“The government of Israel’s first responsibility is for the security of its citizens,” he said. “And they failed — completely failed.”
Mr. Schwartz said he wanted the government to take responsibility for those failures. “So far they don’t,” he said. “So we call for elections.”
Ronen Raz, 66, said he was tired of protests — “but there’s no other choice.”
Sitting in the shade at a bus stop next to an empty coffee cup, Mr. Raz said he had been protesting against the government since 2020 and would stay through this protest — “or until Bibi falls down.”
Sunday night’s protest was one of the largest since the start of the war, but appeared smaller than the demonstrations at the peak of a wave of anti-government demonstrations last year, a wave that Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition survived.
On Monday afternoon, Lee Nevo, 45, crouched with a paintbrush over a long white banner spread on the ground. Bubble letters spelled out “IMAGINING PEACE” in Hebrew, and she was filling in a letter with purple paint. She said she was inspired by the crowds on Sunday night.
“It gives us hope that something is going to change actually,” Ms. Nevo said.
The first thing that needs to change, she said, is the government — and Oct. 7 made clear that this could not wait. Behind her, posters with the names and photos of hostages held in Gaza hung along the metal fence: Arbel Yehoud, 28; Karina Ariev, 19; Dror Or, 48; Yoram Metzger, 80. “We have to bring them back,” she said.
“Out there nobody cares about the hostages,” Ms. Nevo added, gesturing to the Knesset, the Parliament building, behind her. “The only thing they care about is staying in the government.”
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
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Cassandra Vinograd reporting from Jerusalem
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Displaced Palestinians in Rafah, along the border with Egypt, on Saturday.Credit...Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
For months, Israel and Hamas have been at odds over a host of issues during talks aimed at brokering a truce, including whether Israeli troops would withdraw and the length of a cease-fire.
Now one of the major sticking points to emerge as in-person talks resumed this week is how displaced Palestinians will be able to return to the northern Gaza Strip, according to Israeli, Hamas and regional officials.
Despite mounting international pressure, the talks aimed at brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages held by militants in Gaza appear to be stalled.
Mediators from Qatar and Egypt have been meeting with Israeli officials and separately with Hamas leaders, trying to find a formula the warring parties can live with. The United States, Israel’s staunchest ally and largest supplier of weapons, has also been involved. On Saturday, Israeli negotiators
traveled to Cairo for another round of talks.
As the war nears the end of its sixth month, humanitarian officials have said a cease-fire is urgently needed to allow more aid into the devastated enclave and stave off a looming famine, and the relatives of hostages have become increasingly worried about the fate of their loved ones in captivity.
American officials say that they are also hoping the warring sides reach an agreement soon, and that any temporary cease-fire reached to allow the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners might be extended into a longer-lasting peace.
But what to do about displaced people returning to Gaza City and other northern communities has become a key issue. Hundreds of thousands of people from northern Gaza have been sheltering in crowded schools, tent encampments and relatives’ homes for months, facing severe hunger, poor sanitation and dangerous diseases.
Hamas has been demanding that Palestinians be permitted to return to the north without restrictions, according to Israeli and Hamas officials and two regional officials familiar with the talks. Israel, however, has demanded that it supervise the process, limiting who can return and where they can go.
One Israeli official said Israel was seeking to bar Hamas operatives and “fighting-age men” from returning to the north, where the Israeli military is still trying to defeat pockets of Palestinian fighters. In addition, Israel wants the returnees to be limited to specific areas, the official added, without identifying them.
The Israeli official and the two regional officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic negotiations.
In an interview, the Hamas official, Ghazi Hamad, said that Israel was only willing to agree to let Palestinians return to the north under “strict conditions and a few at a time.”
The Israeli army has set up checkpoints on routes from central Gaza into the north and currently is letting only some people pass. Those who have been allowed to cross include truck drivers with aid convoys and technicians repairing phone networks.
Israel’s military campaign has turned large areas in the north into islands of rubble. If Palestinians were to return en masse, many would likely need housing, at least in the short term.
On Sunday, the Israeli war cabinet met to discuss the issue. It was not immediately clear if Israel had shifted its position after the meeting.
While mediators have struggled to bridge differences between the two sides on letting Palestinians return to the north, they have made some progress in persuading Hamas to reduce the number of prisoners it wants Israel to release in exchange for hostages, the two regional officials said.
They said Hamas had softened its previous position on the ratio of hostages to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli official also said the two sides had not agreed on the question of who will choose the prisoners to be released.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting to this article.
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Adam Rasgon and
Edward Wong reporting from Jerusalem and Washington
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Israel’s justice minister, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, will step in for the prime minister while he undergoes surgery.Credit...Pool photo by Abir Sultan
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel underwent surgery on Sunday night to treat a hernia, his office said in a statement.
Mr. Netanyahu’s office said early Monday that the surgery was successful, and that the prime minister was recovering and talking with his family.
The operation came as Mr. Netanyahu is under mounting international pressure to negotiate a cease-fire and end the war in Gaza.
Mr. Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday that he had been diagnosed with a hernia during a “routine examination” the previous night. The prime minister decided in consultation with his doctors to have the operation, his office said in a statement, adding that the procedure would take place on Sunday evening “under full anesthesia.”
“Justice Minister Yariv Levin will be temporarily taking over his duties,” the statement said. Mr. Levin is a longtime stalwart in the prime minister’s Likud party.
Mr. Netanyahu — who also underwent surgery for a hernia
in 2013 — has come under increasing criticism both on the world stage and at home over how Israel is prosecuting the war in the Gaza Strip. Key allies like the United States have
criticized the high civilian death toll and have made urgent calls for Israel to allow more aid into the enclave.
In Israel,
protesters have been demanding that Mr. Netanyahu prioritize the release of hostages held in Gaza and strike a deal for a cease-fire.
Mr. Netanyahu was also facing sharp criticism
from his far-right coalition partners over any indication that he was hesitating in the war against Hamas or in the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Hours before his scheduled surgical procedure, Mr. Netanyahu met in Jerusalem with families of soldiers held captive in Gaza.
He also delivered an evening news conference, looking pale as he hit back at criticism that he had not done enough to bring the hostages home.
“I’ve done everything in my power, and will continue doing everything, to secure their release,” he said, adding that “those who say I don’t do enough to secure the release of our hostages are wrong and misleading.”
Taking questions for nearly 20 minutes, Mr. Netanyahu also reiterated that Israeli forces would move into Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than a million people have sought refuge. American officials have said that invading Rafah would create a humanitarian disaster and that Israel must have a detailed plan to protect, shelter and feed the civilians there.
“We are now working on addressing the question of evacuating the civilian population and providing humanitarian aid,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “That is required and vital, and it will be done.”
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Cassandra Vinograd and
Johnatan Reiss
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Officials indicated they would shut down Al Jazeera in Israel.Credit...Kamran Jebreili/Associated Press
Israeli lawmakers passed a law on Monday allowing the government to temporarily shutter foreign media outlets that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has determined undermine the country’s national security, and the Israeli leader said he would use the new law to block Al Jazeera broadcasts and activities in Israel.
Mr. Netanyahu’s government has had a tense relationship with Al Jazeera for years, but the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 escalated tensions. Mr. Netanyahu has called Al Jazeera a “Hamas mouthpiece.”
On Monday, the prime minister said it was time for the Qatar-based network, one of the most widely viewed sources of television news in the Arab world, to stop broadcasting in Israel, although he did not specify when that would happen.
“The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activity,” Mr. Netanyahu
posted on X, while recovering from hernia surgery.
Al Jazeera called Netanyahu’s comments “lies that incite against the safety of our journalists around the world.”
“The network stresses that this latest measure comes as part of a series of systematic Israeli attacks to silence Al Jazeera,” it said in a statement, adding that the new law would not “deter us from continuing our bold and professional coverage.”
Under the new law, if the prime minister deems a foreign media outlet to “concretely undermine” Israel’s national security, the government can temporarily close its offices, confiscate its equipment, remove it from Israeli cable and satellite television providers, and block access to any of the channel’s online platforms hosted on servers in Israel or owned by Israeli entities.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedoms around the world, criticized the new law,
saying that it “contributes to a climate of self-censorship and hostility toward the press.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked about the law during a news briefing in Washington, said that “a move like this is concerning.”
“We believe in the freedom of the press,” she said. “It is critical.”
The new law comes at a critical time in Israel’s relations with Qatar, which has been hosting cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The Qatari government, which helps fund Al Jazeera, did not immediately comment.
Anushka Patil contributed reporting.
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Johnatan Reiss
Seven officers, including three generals in Iran’s Quds Force, were reported killed in the attack on a building in Damascus, which both Iran and Israeli officials said was carried out by Israel.
www.nytimes.com
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