'We could have saved them'

Family of killed Israeli hostage begs Netanyahu to agree a truce with Hamas amid nationwide strike and protests

- BEL TREW

A distraught cousin of one of the six hostages killed in Gaza issued a heartfelt plea to Benjamin Netanyahu to sign a truce deal and retrieve the remaining captives, as Israel was gripped by a nationwide strike and angry street protests.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis gathered across the country yesterday in a show of anger and grief after the hostages, including an American-Israeli citizen, were found dead. They had been shot by Hamas militants just before IDF soldiers were able to rescue them from a tunnel, Israel’s military said.

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat, 40, was among the dead, told The Independent that three of them had been marked for release in the most recent draft deal to which they had hoped Israel would agree. “All six of them were alive,” he said. “All six of them were held together, all six of them were killed in captivity, and we could have saved all of them.”

In an emotional plea, Mr Dickmann urged the world to keep “trying everything” to reach an agreement that would allow other hostages to be brought out. “I don’t want any more families to feel this way,” he said. “I want them and us to do whatever we can to save the lives of the hostages. Maybe something will touch Netanyahu.”

Mr Dickmann has led dozens of marches calling for an exchange agreement and was even briefly arrested inside the US Capitol in July while protesting during Mr Netanayhu’s speech to Congress.