Israel hostage to Netanyahu: If you can't bring us home, step down

 

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Israeli prisoner of war held in Gaza, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to step down because bringing home the hostages is too big a task for them.

In newly released footage, the 24-year-old can be seen in what he described as an “underground hell” with one of his hands amputated as a result of injuries he sustained on 7 October.

The Israeli-American citizen said that on that day he tried to protect himself and those around him because “there was no one to protect us”, laying blame on the authorities.

“Benjamin Netanyahu and his government should be ashamed of yourselves because you neglected us,” he went on to say. “You should be ashamed of yourselves for leaving us for 200 days and all the efforts of the army have failed. Because the Air Force bombings killed about 70 detainees like me. Also, you should be ashamed because all the deals that were offered to you were rejected. Don’t you want to end this nightmare?” he asked.

He said the prisoners of war are “without water, food, or sun without the treatment” needed for their injuries.

Every day that the prisoners are held in Gaza, Goldberg-Polin said, the government ignores them “more and more”.

Though the video was not dated, Goldberg-Polin appears to make references to the Jewish holiday of Passover which began on Monday and 200 days of Israel’s war on Gaza, which was marked yesterday.

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