Netanyahu undergoes ‘successful’ surgery on day of bombing in Gaza

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuunderwent “successful” surgery for a hernia this Sunday (31), almost six months after the start of the war against Hamas in Gaza Strip. His office says he is “in good shape and starting to recover.” However, on Sunday night, thousands of Israelis protested in Jerusalem to demand the resignation of the prime minister and the release of hostages Israelis still captive in Gaza, while negotiations for a deal appear to have stalled. The Israeli leader faces growing internal pressure over his failure to secure the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas in the October 7 attack.

A ceasefire should allow the release of hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid into the territory, where international organizations warn of the risk of famine that haunts 2.4 million inhabitants of Gaza. Negotiations between Hamas and Israel, driven by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, should have resumed on Sunday in Cairo, but a senior Hamas leader cast doubt on the possibility of progress in the talks due to the great differences between the two sides.

Hamas has not yet decided whether it will send a delegation to the negotiations, assured the senior leader of the Islamist movement, which has governed Gaza since 2007. Nentanyahu accused Hamas of having “hardened its positions”. Meanwhile, in the Palestinian enclave, bombings continue. At least 77 people died in the early hours of Sunday in Gaza, the territory’s Ministry of Health reported. The fighting is concentrated around hospitals, most of which are out of order, and where, according to the Israeli army, Islamist fighters are hiding.

Israeli forces announced that they had killed several fighters, including a leader of the Palestinian movement, in an “operation” in the Al Shifa hospital complex, in Gaza City, the largest in the territory. According to Hamas, there are also Israeli troops in the Nasser hospital complex, in the city of Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that an Israeli bombing of the Al Aqsa hospital, in central Gaza, left four dead and 17 injured. WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported on platform X that 21 patients died at Al Shifa hospital, which currently has only one bottle of water for every 15 people. He detailed that the deaths have occurred since March 18, when the Israeli siege of this hospital in Gaza City began.

The Israeli offensive launched in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ attack on its territory on October 7 has already left 32,782 people dead, according to the Palestinian movement’s Ministry of Health. Hamas’ attack on Israel left at least 1,160 people dead, most of them civilians. In addition, more than 250 people were kidnapped and 130 of them remain held hostage in Gaza, including 34 who reportedly died, according to Israeli authorities. Israel, which promised to “annihilate” Hamas, has since launched a military operation in Gaza, where the war has forced the majority of the population to relocate, according to the UN.

*With information from AFP