Netanyahu to meet with relatives of female observer soldiers killed by Hamas

The first Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will meet on Tuesday for the first time with relatives of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) observation soldiers, who were killed or kidnapped by members of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas on October 7, after their warnings about a imminent attack were supposedly ignored by high-ranking military officials months before.

The meeting, to be held in Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem, will take place after the families created a forum called "Their Voices" with the aim of pressing for an investigation into the events on the day of the attack on the Nahal Oz base. where the young soldiers worked.

They also ask that the Army release recordings of their daughters speaking on the radio during their last shifts.

La base Nahal Oz, located less than a kilometer from the Gaza Strip, was one of the first targets of the Hamas attack on October 7, which included the launching of thousands of rockets and the infiltration of numerous Palestinian terrorists into Israeli territory.

At that base alone, 15 observation soldiers were killed and six others were taken hostage. Additionally, 51 non-observation soldiers were also killed in Nahal Oz.

The observation soldiers who worked at that base - now reduced to ashes and rubble - and at others around Israel's borders are all very young women, around 20 years old, who do not carry weapons and who are known as "the eyes." From Israel".

Their job consists of observing the terrain for hours through surveillance cameras and reporting any suspicious activity to higher command.

 

Some of the soldiers who did not die because they did not have to work on the day of the attack have informed the press that, months before, they had alerted their superiors about irregular activities on the Gazan side of the border.

They claim to have reported hostage-taking drills, replicas of Israeli military vehicles or weapons, the presence of elite Hamas troops wearing their uniforms and taking photographs close to the border, the installation and detonation of explosives near the border fence, apparently to test their resistance, as well as a growing number of attempts to infiltrate Hamas troops into Israeli territory.

In May, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many of the 251 kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, released a video - recorded by the Islamic terrorists themselves - showing the aggressive abduction suffered by the observation soldiers, many of which were bleeding.

The Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Herzi Halevi, assured yesterday that he will consider the possibility of his resignation once "the tasks (of the war) are completed."

So far there have only been three relevant resignations in Israel due to the errors of October 7: that of the head of Military Intelligence, General Aharon Haliva; that of Brigadier General Avi Rosenfeld, commander of the Gaza Division, and that of the head of the Shabak Southern District - whose identity, like that of all the workers of this intelligence agency, has not been revealed.

Netanyahu has not directly accepted responsibility for the Hamas attack that sparked the war and has met on very few occasions with the hostages' relatives, who accuse him of a total lack of empathy.

Thus, the prime minister faces a growing protest movement with massive marches to demand his resignation and press for a ceasefire agreement with Hamas that allows the release of the 116 hostages who remain captive in the Strip.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt are mediating to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. EFE and Aurora