Israel drops leaflets in Gaza asking Palestinians for help finding hostages
- ‘Do you want to return home?’ Displaced civilians seeking refuge in Rafah were urged to ‘make the call’ if they saw one of 33 captives held by Hamas
- Israeli planes and tanks intensified their bombardment in Jabalia on the northern edge of Gaza, and in Khan Younis and Rafah in the south
Israel pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Saturday while its planes dropped leaflets on the southern area of Rafah urging Palestinians seeking refuge there to help locate hostages held by Hamas, residents said.
The leaflets showing photos of 33 hostages, their names written in Arabic, urging displaced Palestinians to make contact: “Do you want to return home? Please make the call if you recognise one of them.”
“They are asking people’s help because they are unable to get to their hostages because of the resistance,” said Abu Ali, one north Gaza resident. “End the war, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, and get your people back,” he said.
More than 100 of the hostages seized by Hamas were freed during a short-lived November truce. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza, 27 of whom have been killed in captivity.
In Israel, families of hostages camped outside Netanyahu’s residence in the coastal city Caesarea.