- ARAB NEWS
- 21 May 2024
Since 1975
LONDON: An Israeli journalist was suspended for saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “wants all hostages dead.”
During a live news broadcast on Sunday, Channel 13’s Gil Tamary said: “Netanyahu has no real interest, no real incentive to release the hostages. He wants them all dead, for his own reasons, to be martyrs.”
He continued: “In this context, you have to remember what he is going against — he is going against an agreement that he agreed to. The head of his institution. A person he sent and gave him the permission to agree to these things.
“Netanyahu does not want to bring back the hostages alive, we need to understand that, we need to accept it.”
After the report was met with a backlash, Tamary issued an apology and said: “It is not certain that this is what Netanyahu wants most.”
Despite the controversy, the network said the journalist would return to work on Wednesday.
Netanyahu’s Likud party said: “Hamas does not need their own media if it has News 13.”
The incident coincided with reports that Israel is intending to send negotiators to Cairo for discussions on a hostage release deal with senior US, Egyptian and Qatari officials.
Netanyahu earlier rejected a Hamas proposal for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, saying he would continue the conflict until he achieved a “crushing victory” against the militant group.
About 130 hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7 are believed to be still in Gaza, following the release of 105 people in late November during a weeklong truce.
