Netanyahu pushes back on pressure: ‘No one will preach to me’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back on pressure to reach a cease-fire deal after thousands of protesters poured onto the streets in the hours after the military said six hostages in Gaza were killed by Hamas.

Netanyahu doubled down in public remarks Monday, saying he wants Israel to remain in control of the Philadelphi corridor, which is a narrow strip along Gaza’s border with Egypt where Israel claims Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza, The Associated Press reported. Egypt and Hamas have denied the claims.

The control of the corridor has been a major demand from Israel in cease-fire negotiations. Netanyahu said Monday the strip is “the oxygen of Hamas,” according to the AP.

“No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me,” he continued, adding that “no one will preach to me on this issue.”

Protests in Israel entered their second day on Monday after demonstrators took to the streets to call on Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal with the militant group, after the military said over the weekend it recovered the bodies of six hostages, including one Israeli American. The U.S. and its partners in the region have been pushing for a cease-fire deal to release the remaining hostages, but no concrete agreement has been reached.

The AP reported that protesters gathered outside Netanyahu’s home late Monday to chant “Deal. Now.” and carry coffins covered in the Israeli flag.

Following the news of the recovery, the Israeli leader sought forgiveness from the victim’s families.

“I told the families, and I repeat and say this evening: I am asking for your forgiveness that we didn’t manage to bring them back alive,” he said during a press conference. “We were very close, but we couldn’t make it.”

President Biden also said Monday that Netanyahu was not doing enough to reach a hostage deal as he arrived at the White House for a Situation Room meeting with advisers involved in cease-fire negotiations.

Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to eliminate Hamas since the militant group attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The attack left more than 1,100 people dead, and approximately 250 people were taken as hostages into Gaza.

The Israeli military also said Tuesday that it killed a Hamas militant who was in a video from Oct. 7, where he appeared to be drinking from a bottle of soda in front of children who were injured in a grenade attack that killed their father, per the AP. The military later identified the commander as Ahmed Fozi Wadia, a leader of Hamas’s commando battalion.

The Associated Press contributed.