Netanyahu vows to bring ‘our boys back home’ from Gaza
PM implies Israel will hold on to bodies of terrorists recovered from destroyed attack tunnel as bargaining chips
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Monday to bring back Israelis held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza, signaling he would use bodies of Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists held by Israel as leverage.
In an event in the northern town of Migdal Haemek, Netanyahu said he would not give any “free gifts” to Israel’s enemies.
On Sunday the army announced it had recovered the bodies of five Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists that were buried last week when the IDF destroyed a Gazan attack tunnel that crossed into Israeli territory.
“A government has two major tasks,” Netanyahu said. “The first is to protect the country and the second is to build the land. We are doing both these things together. We protect the land with a simple rule — anyone who tries to attack us, we attack them. And second, we do not give free gifts. We will bring our boys back home. There are no free gifts.”
Two Israeli civilians — Hisham al-Sayed and Abera Mengistu — and the remains of two slain IDF soldiers — Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin — are believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza. A third civilian, Jumaa Abu Ghanima, was initially thought to have been a captive, but there is now suspicion that he has joined Hamas.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Sunday it would not negotiate for the return of the bodies of its men, and threatened violence, saying that Israel “will not be able to bargain over our fighters.”
“Our battle is open-ended and shall not end. The freedom tunnel is not the only tunnel owned by the Islamic Jihad. It has many tunnels and many options,” warned Ahmad al-Mudalal, a senior member of the group.
The five men whose bodies were recovered by Israel were apparently diggers who had been working inside the tunnel at the time of the strike. They were found inside Israeli territory, the army said.
The Justice Ministry on Friday said in a legal brief that it wasn’t the “duty of the government to allow the terrorist organizations operating in Gaza to collect the bodies of its terrorists.”
The Goldin family called on the government to withhold the bodies until the remains of their son were returned, and threatened to take the case to the High Court in order to prevent it.
“Instead of levying a heavy price on Hamas and steamrolling it, they tell us in meetings that the next missiles on Sderot, Ashdod and Ashkelon will be because of the pressure we want to put in place. Enough excuses — it’s time for action,” said Goldin’s mother, Lea.
The PIJ attack tunnel, which began in the Gazan city of Khan Younis, went under the border and into Israeli territory, near Kibbutz Kissufim. The IDF destroyed it last Monday.
The tunnel did not yet have an exit, and the IDF said it was monitored from the time it crossed into Israeli territory so it did not pose a threat to civilians.
According to Israeli assessment, 14 terrorists — mostly from PIJ, but also several from Hamas — were killed in the blast and its aftermath.
