Netanyahu: Hamas Must Completely Unarm 08/05 06:15

   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel will not withdraw 
from its current lines in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed and pushed 
back on a recent deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.

   DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza City (AP) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 
Tuesday that Israel will not withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until 
Hamas has completely disarmed and pushed back on a recent deal announced by 
U.S. President Donald Trump.

   Netanyahu's remarks cast more doubt on the deal to disarm Hamas, which was 
seen as a potential breakthrough for ending the war. It also marked a rare 
public display of friction with the Trump administration.

   The agreement called for Hamas to begin disarming and for Israel to halt its 
strikes and begin withdrawing from the roughly 60% of Gaza it currently 
controls. It was based on an October ceasefire agreement that ended major 
military operations and brought about the release of the remaining hostages 
held in Gaza but has stalled on other fronts.

   Netanyahu, who faces a tough battle for reelection in October, reiterated 
his stance that disarmament should come first. He said Israeli forces would 
continue to "do whatever is necessary to protect themselves, our territory, and 
our citizens."

   The Trump administration "sent us a draft. We did not agree. It is not our 
draft. We sent our comments. ... This is our position," Netanyahu said in a 
video posted on social media.

   Mass funeral held for dozens killed in 2023 strike

   Earlier on Tuesday, Palestinians gathered for a mass funeral of more than 
100 bodies finally recovered from a deadly Israeli strike in Gaza in 2023. More 
than 300 people were killed on Nov. 22, 2023, weeks into the war with Hamas, 
when warplanes flattened a residential block in Gaza City's Sabra neighborhood.

   Around 40 bodies were recovered soon afterward in a frantic scramble of 
rough tools and bare hands, but most were buried deep beneath the rubble. 
Reports of the high number of victims in one of the war's deadliest attacks 
took days to reach the public in the chaos just before its first ceasefire.

   Over the weekend, first responders dug through the destroyed buildings and 
recovered remains of 112 victims, including 40 children, according to the Civil 
Defense, a rescue agency operating under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.

   It said 157 bodies still have not been found.

   "The only crime of these martyrs was that they remained steadfast and 
resilient in their homes, believing that these homes would protect them," one 
relative, Taysir al-Hassayna, told The Associated Press following the funeral 
prayers.

   For the missing, it's "as if their bodies had evaporated without a trace."

   The current ceasefire has allowed recovery of remains

   Only now are some bodies of people killed in the war's ferocious early 
months slowly being recovered, as the fragile ceasefire allows such efforts to 
push ahead in parts of devastated Gaza.

   Those discoveries have contributed to the war's rising toll. The Hamas-led 
militant attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people 
and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 
73,377 Palestinians, including since the ceasefire, Gaza's Health Ministry said.

   At least 7,400 people have been reported by relatives to still be under the 
rubble, Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the ministry's records department, told the 
AP. The true number is likely thousands higher because in some cases entire 
families were killed in a single bombing, leaving no one to report the missing, 
al-Waheidi has said.

   The people mourned on Tuesday were from a residential block belonging to the 
Hassayna and Abu Sharia clan, and many were related. AP has identified at least 
60 families across Gaza who lost 25 or more family members during the first 
three months of war.

   On Tuesday, the remains of the victims, wrapped in Palestinian flags, were 
laid in rows on the ground. Many were marked with photos, and flower petals 
were scattered around them all. Hundreds of people surrounded the bodies for 
funeral prayers, some standing on the rubble.

   Following the prayers, people carried the bodies on stretchers along a 
narrow street lined by destroyed buildings and buried them in a nearby cemetery.

   Deadly strikes continue and rebuilding is on hold

   At least 1,252 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took 
effect, according to the territory's Health Ministry.

   The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty 
records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent 
experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants but says women 
and children make up most of the dead.

   Israel says its strikes are against militants who endanger its soldiers, 
took part in the Oct. 7 attack or carry out other violations. Five Israeli 
soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

   The U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement last October called for Hamas to be 
disarmed and for Israel to withdraw. An International Stabilization Force was 
to be deployed, and an independent Palestinian administration was to oversee 
governance and reconstruction.

   Israel says everything hinges on Hamas giving up its weapons, while Hamas 
says Israel must end its strikes and begin withdrawing from the territory. Each 
side accuses the other of violating the truce.

   Gaza remains largely shattered. Most of its 2 million Palestinians are 
displaced, many living in tent camps where poor conditions and overcrowding 
have led to rodent infestations and outbreaks of infectious diseases such as 
chickenpox.