President Isaac Herzog as Gaza War enters 6th month

“October 7 Hamas attack killed 1,170 people in southern Israel.”

Jerusalem:

President Isaac Herzog said Sunday in a statement marking six months of conflict that Israel is fighting a “bloody and difficult war.”

“Tomorrow at 6:29 a.m. (3:29 p.m. Japan time), a brutal terrorist attack and a horrific massacre will take place,” Herzog said on Saturday, referring to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war. It’s been six months since then.”

“Six months have passed since this crime against our sisters and brothers, against our country and against humanity. Six months of bloody and difficult war,” he said, adding that the president’s role is largely ceremonial.

Herzog’s remarks came after the military announced it had recovered the body of hostage Elad Katsir, who was killed in Gaza captivity in January.

They also came as tens of thousands of Israelis protested against right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war.

The Oct. 7 Hamas attack killed 1,170 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli statistics.

Of the 250 hostages held by Palestinian militants, 129 remain in Gaza, and 34 of them have died, the military announced.

Israeli retaliatory attacks against Hamas have killed at least 33,137 people in the Gaza Strip, the majority of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run region’s health ministry.

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