Israel-Hamas war latest: Netanyahu to 'settle the score' after hostages shot in the head (2024)

The Prime Minister has said he is “completely shocked” by the killing of six hostages who were captured by Hamas on Oct 7 and found by Israeli forces inside a Gaza tunnel on Saturday.

Sir Keir Starmer said: “I am completely shocked at the horrific and senseless killing of six hostages in Gaza by Hamas. My thoughts are with their loved ones at this awful time.

“Hamas must release all the hostages now, and a ceasefire deal must be agreed by all sides immediately to end the suffering.”

Israel’s defence minister has called for a ceasefire deal in Gaza in order to facilitate the return of the hostages still being held by Hamas.

Yoav Gallant said: “It’s too late for the abductees who were murdered in cold blood. The abductees who remain in the captivity of Hamas must be returned home.”

Mr Gallant also called for the reversal of a decision to keep troops in the so-called Philadelphi corridor, along the southern edge of Gaza, which is seen as a major obstacle in preventing a ceasefire deal.

Mr Gallant has clashed repeatedly with Mr Netanyahu and hardline religious nationalist ministers over the need to reach a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza.

The mayor of Givatayim, an Israeli city located east of Tel Aviv, has declared a general strike will take place on Monday in a a fresh blow to Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli prime minister has been under increasing pressure to agree to a ceasefire deal that would bring hostages held by Hamas home.

“The idea that military pressure will return hostages has collapsed,” Ran Kunik said.

It followed calls by Yair Lapid, the opposition leader, for a strike in response to the death of six Israeli captives whose bodies were found in a Gaza tunnel on Saturday.

Dozens of Israeli troops were seen at the site where three police officers were killed in a shooting on Sunday.

Arik Ben Eliyahu, Hadas Branch, and Roni Shakuri were killed near the Palestinian city of Tarqumiyah in the southern West Bank.

Several of the Israeli hostages who were found dead in a Gaza tunnel were due to be released in a proposed prisoner exchange deal, a senior Hamas official said on Sunday.

“Some of the names of the captives announced as found by the (Israeli) occupier... were part of the list of hostages to be released that Hamas had approved” in a potential exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, the anonymous official said.

It comes after a senior Israeli official told the Telegraph that at least three of the hostages were due to be exchanged in a ceasefire deal that recently collapsed.

“Hersh, Carmel and Eden were all on the list of hostages set to be released in the July 2 ceasefire proposal presented by Biden. We could have saved them,” the official said.

Israel said the captives were “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists” shortly before being found by Israeli troops - potentially only one or two days before being found.

But Hamas has so far denied responsibility for their deaths, saying the hostages were killed by “Zionist bombing”.

Six hostages abducted by Hamas who were found dead in a Gaza tunnel were found with gunshot wounds to the head, a source familiar with the subject told the Telegraph.

Meanwhile, the Times of Israel reported that autopsies showed they were murdered in the last 48 hours.

Three police officers who were killed in a shooting attack in the southern West Bank on Sunday have been named as Arik Ben Eliyahu, Hadas Branch, and Roni Shakuri.

The fatal shooting was carried out near the Palestinian city of Tarqumiyah in the southern West Bank, according to Israeli officials.

The death toll in Gaza has risen to 40,738 since the war began on October 7, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.

It said that 94,154 have also been injured during that time.

Health authorities do not differentiate between civilians and fighters in their death toll count.

Three Israeli police officers were killed on Sunday in a shooting attack which Hamas said its fighters carried out near the Palestinian city of Tarqumiyah in the southern West Bank.

Magen David Adom, Israel’s medical emergency service, said on Sunday that two men and a woman had been killed in a “very severe attack” as explosions and gunfire were heard across the West Bank.

“We saw a vehicle with bullet marks on a mound beside the road,” the emergency service said in a statement, quoting two of its paramedics at the scene.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack, which the terror group described as a “natural response” to the “war of genocide in the Gaza strip and Zionist crimes in the West Bank”.

The shooting comes as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continue a widespread operation across the northern West Bank, which was launched on Wednesday.

At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in a series of counter-terror raids across four West Bank cities, including 14 fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups.

Israel’s finance minister has warned another Oct 7-style attack could happen unless Israel carries out a “preemptive strike” against terrorism.

“We are a step away from October 7 in Judea and Samaria and the center of the country,” Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday.

“We need to do now what we didn’t do that cursed night and launch a preemptive strike and strike terror hard. Gazan, West Bank, and Lebanese terror are one part of the Iranian choke ring. We are committed to eliminating terrorism on all fronts.”

Hamas had “approved” the release of several of the six Israeli hostages who were found dead in a Gaza tunnel, an official claimed on Sunday.

“Some of the names of the captives announced as found by the (Israeli) occupier... were part of the list of hostages to be released that Hamas had approved” in a potential exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, the official told AFP.

The sister of a hostage being held in captivity by Hamas was injured after being hit by a mounted police officer riding a horse during protests in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Israeli capital to call for a hostage deal and protest against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Natalie Atedgi, the sister of hostage Matan Zangauker, was taken to hospital following the incident.

The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) has said it has launched an investigation into the incident.

Joe Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” by the deaths of six Israeli hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a dual Israeli-US citizen.

“I have worked tirelessly to bring their beloved Hersh safely to [his parents] and am heartbroken by the news of his death,” the US president said.

“It is as tragic as it is reprehensible. Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages,” he added.

Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, called for terrorists to be “shot in the head” on Sunday as he visited the area of the deadly attack on three Israeli police officers.

“Right to life (of Israelis) is more important than freedom of movement of PA (Palestinian Authority) residents,” he said.

“Instead of freeing terrorists, shoot them in the head.”

The United Nations and Palestinian health authorities began vaccinating 640,000 children against polio on Sunday following the disease’s reemergence for the first time in 25 years.

Israel and Hamas agreed to brief pauses in their 11-month war in Gaza to allow the campaign to go ahead.

It is not clear how the strain arrived in Gaza but genetic sequencing showed that it resembles a variant found in Egypt that could have been introduced from September 2023, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

The UN health body said that a drop in routine vaccinations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Gaza, likely contributed to its re-emergence.

The bodies of six hostages were found by Israeli special forces in a tunnel in Gaza on Saturday.

Israel said the captives were “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them”.

The hostages were all kidnapped on October 7 and were found in Rafah roughly one km from the tunnel from where Qaid Al-Alkadi, another hostage, was found earlier this week.

Among those found on Saturday was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli, who was seen alive with a hand missing in a proof-of-life video published by Hamas earlier this year.

The others discovered were Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, Carmel Gat, and Eden Yerushalmi.

A senior Israeli official told the Telegraph that at least three of the hostages were due to be exchanged in a ceasefire deal that recently collapsed.

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Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to “settle the score” with Hamas after the military recovered the bodies of six hostages from a Gaza tunnel.

“Those who kill hostages do not want an agreement” for a Gaza truce, the Israeli prime minister said in a statement, telling Hamas leaders that “we will hunt you down, we will catch you and we will settle the score”.

Mr Netanyahu also accused Hamas of carrying out a shooting attack earlier on Sunday near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

“We are fighting on all fronts against a cruel enemy who wants to murder us all. Just this morning, he murdered three policemen in Hebron,” he said.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage.

We’re bringing you the latest updates from the Israel-Hamas war.