Former Israeli Hamas detainee Aviva Siegel speaks to an American channel (Reuters and social media)
An Israeli woman previously held by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip has launched a scathing attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of seeking personal glory for himself by winning the war at the expense of detainees.
Israeli Aviva Adriana Siegel, 62, who was released from Gaza after 51 days and whose husband Keith is still in custody, said she "fears that the Israeli government's desire to win the war in Gaza will come at the expense of the hostages."
"I have a feeling that Netanyahu wants the war to continue, because he wants to win the war," Siegel told PBS News Or, noting that he "cannot continue the war and get the hostages out at the same time."
"I have a feeling that Netanyahu wants to keep the war going because he wants to win the war. But he can't keep the war going and get the hostages out," Aviva Siegel, who was held in captivity by Hamas, tells @IAmAmnaNawaz. "He needs to go to a ceasefire and then get them out." pic.twitter.com/tXi6q5bwUu
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) January 2, 2024
"Netanyahu needs to reach a ceasefire and then get them (detainees), and he has to get them out now as quickly as possible because 88 days is enough," Siegel said.
Asked if she thought Netanyahu was prioritizing winning the war over repatriating detainees, Siegel replied: "I have a feeling that that's why the war continues, he wants to win the war."
Siegel spoke about her husband Keith: "I'm strong for Keith now, but I want him back. He's 64 years old, he has health problems and he needs to go out now with all the other hostages."
Siegel's speech comes about a week after another Israeli detainee who was also released by Hamas, revealed that the Israeli army bombed her place of detention with her children in Gaza, despite knowing they were there, injuring them.
Prisoner Hajar Brodić (social media)
Hagar Brodic told Israel's Channel 12 the story of being subjected to intense shelling by the Israeli army and her children, announcing that she left Gaza with the conclusion that the return of detainees was not a priority for Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
"I realized when I came back (from Gaza) that we were never the first priority of the government of Israel, but the first thing was to defeat Hamas and then return the abductees," she said.
"They (the army) bombed a building close to where we were, all the windows exploded and the walls fell," Brodych said. But she added: "Miraculously, the five of us came away with minor injuries."
"On Monday, October 9, the Israeli army shelled us, and all the time it was shelling near us," the former Israeli detainee said.
It is noteworthy that the former Israeli detainee in Gaza, Raz Ben Ami, had called in statements to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz Netanyahu's government to complete an exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" in Gaza "urgently", after revealing that 3 Israeli detainees were killed by the occupation army's fire during its advance in the Strip.
The families of the Israeli prisoners are demanding that the Netanyahu government cease fire in Gaza, and exchange their relatives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons.
Since October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which as of Wednesday has left 22,313 martyrs, 57,296 injured, mostly children and women, massive destruction of infrastructure and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Gaza authorities and the United Nations.
Source : Al Jazeera + Israeli Press + Social Media