"Joint US-UK airstrikes in Yemen: forces unite to protect maritime security and thwart Houthi threats to shipping"

 In a dramatic turn of events, family members of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip forcefully entered a parliamentary meeting in Jerusalem, passionately urging the Israeli government to take more decisive actions for the safe return of their loved ones. The emotionally charged protest unfolded as the intensity of fighting in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, reached unprecedented levels.

Approximately 20 relatives of individuals seized as captives during the October 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group disrupted a Knesset finance committee meeting on Monday. Their chants, echoing through the parliamentary halls, carried a simple yet powerful message: "Release them now, now, now!"

This impromptu demonstration reflects the heightened desperation and frustration among the families, who are seeking urgent intervention from the government to secure the return of their abducted relatives. The emotional plea underscores the human toll of the conflict and the deep impact it has on those directly affected by the hostage situation.

As the situation in Gaza intensifies, with clashes reaching unprecedented levels in Khan Younis, the pressure on the Israeli government to address the hostage crisis grows. The disruption of the parliamentary meeting by the aggrieved families serves as a poignant reminder of the human cost of the ongoing conflict and the urgent need for resolution.

One woman, who has three family

members taken by Hamas, cried: "Just

one I'd like to get back alive, one out of

three." Other protesters held up signs

reading: "You will not sit here while they

die there."

On Sunday, the Israeli prime minister

Benjamin Netanyahu, rejected new

Hamas conditions for ending the war and

releasing the hostages including the

Islamist group retaining control of Gaza

and Israel withdrawing completely. In

response, a Hamas official in Qatar said

Netanyahu's refusal to end the military

offensive in Gaza meant there was "no

chance for the return of the captives'

A total of 110 Israelis and other nationals

were released in return for 240

Palestinian women and children held in

Israeli prisons as part of a week-long truce

at the end of November. Several attempts

at a ceasefire since have failed.

The families of the remaining 130

hostages, worried that their relatives*

plight now comes second to Israel's

pbjective of destroying Hamas, appear to

be turning to more drastic measures in

pursuit of another release deal, including

further demonstrations outside

Netanyahu's private home.

An admission from the Israel Defense

Forces last week that three hostages.

whose bodies were recovered in the

Jabaliya area in December, may have been

killed by an airstrike on a Hamas tunnel,

has also stoked relatives' fears. At least 27

hostages are believed to have died in

Gaza, including three men who were shot

and killed by Israeli soldiers after

escaping captivity and approaching the

troops for help

In a meeting with 15 of the hostage

families after the Knesset protest on

Monday, Netanyahu's office said that

contrary to reports of growing consensus

on a ceasefire agreement, there was "no

real proposal from Hamas"

In a statement, an official said: "I say this

as clearly as I can, because there are so

many untrue [reports] that are surely

torturing you. On the other hand, there is

our initiative, which I will not detail."

In Gaza, the Israeli offensive, ongoing for nearly four months, has intensified in Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza. Israeli officials have characterized this as the final large-scale ground assault before transitioning to more focused, lower-intensity operations aimed at eradicating Hamas, as per the demands of U.S. allies.

Significant ground maneuvers occurred in the south and west of Khan Younis, resulting in approximately 50 reported casualties, including fatalities and injuries, from airstrikes and shelling. The situation remains critical, with fears that additional individuals may be trapped beneath the rubble. The recent escalation highlights the evolving nature of the conflict and the shift in Israeli military strategy in the region.

Israeli tanks reached the gates of two

Khan Younis hospitals on Monday

residents in the area said, in the bloodiest

fighting of 2024 to date and the worst

violence in the south of Gaza since the

war began on 7 October, when Hamas

killed 1,200 people in its attack on

southern Israel.

More than 25,200 people in Gaza have

now been killed in the fighting, the

majority women and children, the health

ministry in the Hamas-run territory says.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said

on Monday it had lost all contact with its

staff at Khan Younis's al-Amal hospital,

adding that tanks had surrounded both al-

Khair hospital and the nearby al-Aqsa

University, where thousands of displaced

people were sheltering.

"It's very difficult to leave the [hospital]

complex and go to any cemetery and bury

bodies because we're under siege and

anyone who leaves the complex is

targeted," Abdelkarim Ahmad, who was

helping burying the dead, told Reuters.

At Nasser hospital, the only big hospital

still accessible in Khan Younis and the

largest still functioning in Gaza, witnesses

said the trauma ward was overwhelmed

with wounded being treated on the floor

and in hallways

The majority of Gaza's 2.3 million

residents are now penned into two towns:

Deir al-Balah, north of Khan Younis, and

Rafah, on the border with Egypt. Most are

crammed into public buildings and vast

camps of makeshift tents as disease and

hunger stalk the trapped population.

Israeli plans for the two areas remain

anclear, but Israel has said it will not stop

fighting until Hamas is completely

eradicated, a goal analysts say is

unrealistic given the group's deep-rooted

presence in Gaza and elsewhere.

Israel blames the offensive's high civilian

death toll on Hamas, which it says uses

the population as human shields. Hamas

denies the allegation

Rising tensions and violence across the

Middle East sparked by the war in Gaza

have stoked fears of a wider conflagration

involving Iranian-backed groups in

Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, as well

as the occupied West Bank and East

Jerusalem.

The biggest fear is of a new conflict with

the Lebanese group Hezbollah on Israel's

northern border, where clashes that began

in October have intensified in recent

weeks.

Netanyahu has also been criticised for

reiterating his opposition to an

independent Palestinian state, a stance at

odds with the US, Israel's most important

ally. Joe Biden has expended vast

amounts of international and domestic

political capital in defending Israel's war

effort, despite a growing global outcry

over the conflict's devastating

humanitarian toll.

Support for the war remains high among

Israelis, but opinion polls show lagging

support for Netanayahu and his far-right

coalition. Weekly Saturday night rallies

demanding the release of hostages have

been supplemented in recent weeks by

growing calls for elections.