The UK continues to stand by Israel's right to defend its security, Rishi Sunak has said, six months on from the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
But the prime minister said the nation remains "appalled" by the deaths of three British aid workers in an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strike this week.
He repeated calls for a "humanitarian pause" to allow more aid into Gaza.
Separately, the UK announced a Royal Navy ship is to be deployed to the region to help deliver aid.
The Foreign Office also pledged £9.7m for aid, equipment and expertise to help an international effort to establish a maritime aid corridor between Cyprus and Gaza.
Sunday marks six months since Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages.
About 129 hostages remain unaccounted for, with at least 34 presumed dead.
Since then, 33,137 people have been killed in Gaza, with more than 75,815 injured, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
"Six months later, Israeli wounds are still unhealed," said Mr Sunak. "Families still mourn and hostages are still held by Hamas.
"And after six months of war in Gaza, the toll on civilians continues to grow - hunger, desperation, loss of life on an awful scale."
He said the UK had been "straining every sinew" to get aid into Gaza and that it "must be flooded in". He also repeated calls for an immediate humanitarian pause, leading to a "long-term sustainable ceasefire".
"We continue to stand by Israel's right to defeat the threat from Hamas terrorists and defend their security," said Mr Sunak.
"But the whole of the UK is shocked by the bloodshed, and appalled by the killing of brave British heroes who were bringing food to those in need."
Seven people were killed in the attack, including three British military veterans who were acting as the convoy's security team: John Chapman, 57, James "Jim" Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47.
Mr Johnson was responding to calls from some MPs to stop selling weapons to Israel after the IDF attack on the WCK aid workers.
More than 600 lawyers, including former Supreme Court justices, this week wrote to the government saying weapon exports to Israel must end because the UK risks breaking international law over a "plausible risk of genocide" in Gaza. Israel rejects the claim of genocide as "wholly unfounded".
EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Labour's shadow foreign secretary David Lammy also called for Israeli hostages to be returned home and condemned the "intolerable death and destruction" of the IDF's military campaign.
Mr Lammy called for "an immediate ceasefire".
Announcing the £9.7m aid package for Gaza, Lord Cameron warned of a real prospect of famine.
The foreign secretary said the UK, along with the US, Cyprus and other partners, will set up a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza.
The international plan, which aims to be up and running by early May, will see tens of thousands of tonnes of aid transported from Cyprus to Gaza via the pier.
"We need to continue to explore all options, including by sea and air, to ease the desperate plight of some of the world's most vulnerable people," he said.
The Foreign Office said the UK was continuing to call for urgent changes to the system, known as the deconfliction mechanism, for protecting humanitarian aid workers.
Iran on Saturday again threatened retaliation for the deaths of seven Revolutionary Guards in a strike on Damascus, with the army chief saying his country’s enemies will “regret” the killings and threatening to exact “maximum damage.”
Tehran has vowed to avenge Monday’s air strike on the Syrian capital it blamed on Israel, which has not commented.
The attack leveled the Iranian embassy’s consular annex in Damascus, killing seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members including two generals.
Iran’s response “will be carried out at the right time, with the necessary precision and planning, and with maximum damage to the enemy so that they regret their action,” Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri said on Saturday.
He was speaking at a ceremony in the central city of Isfahan to commemorate Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the two dead brigadier generals from the Quds Force, the IRGC’s foreign operations arm.
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Zahedi, 63, was believed to be the Quds Force commander for the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Lebanon.
File: Chief of the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri addresses a military parade commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran War, in front of the shrine of the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran, September 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
He had held several commands during a career spanning more than 40 years, and was the most senior Iranian soldier killed since a United States missile strike at Baghdad airport in 2020 killed Quds Force chief General Qassem Soleimani. The IRGC is a US-designated terrorist organization.
On Saturday, crowds at the gathering in Isfahan chanted “Down with Israel!” and “Down with the United States!”
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The Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Israel “will be punished” for the killings.
Monday’s strike in Damascus took place against the backdrop of the Gaza war which began with Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel. Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Tehran backs Hamas but has denied any direct involvement in the attack which sparked a massive Israeli operation to destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, IRGC chief commander General Hossein Salami warned that Israel “cannot escape the consequences” of the Damascus strike.
Bagheri’s warning came after the Iran reportedly put its military forces on “full high alert” ahead of their expected strike.
Two Iranian officials quoted on Friday by The New York Times said Iran has made a decision to directly attack Israel, in a move meant to create deterrence.
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Meanwhile, a US official said the United States was on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in the region.
“We’re definitely at a high state of vigilance,” the official said in confirming a CNN report that says an attack could come in the next week.
A senior administration official who spoke with CNN said the US is bracing for a “significant” attack and that both Washington and Jerusalem believe an Iranian response was “inevitable.”
CBS News reported that the US gathered intelligence indicating Iran is planning an attack that would involve a sward of explosive Shahed drones and cruise missiles. US officials who spoke to CBS said they did not know the timing and target of Iran’s anticipated response, but the report said it was expected to come before Ramadan ends next week.
Emergency and security personnel gather at the site of strikes that hit a building next to the Iranian consulate in Syria’s capital Damascus, on April 1, 2024. (Maher Al Mounes/AFP)
Israel has not commented on Monday’s strike, which leveled the Iranian embassy’s consular annex in Damascus, but analysts saw it as an escalation of its campaign against Iran and its regional proxies that runs the risk of triggering a wider war beyond the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond to efforts to harm Israelis, as the country geared up for a possible Iranian response.
Speaking at a meeting of the security cabinet soon after a phone call with US President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said “Iran has been acting against us for years — directly and via proxies. And, therefore, Israel acts against Iran and its proxies — defensively and offensively.”
Netanyahu added: “We will know how to defend ourselves, and we will act according to the simple principle: that those who harm us or plan to harm us, we will harm.”
Iran on Saturday again threatened retaliation for the deaths of seven Revolutionary Guards in a strike on Damascus, with the army chief saying his country’s enemies will “regret” the killings, reports AFP.
Tehran has vowed to avenge Monday’s airstrike on the Syrian capital it blamed on its arch-enemy Israel, which has not commented.
The attack levelled the Iranian embassy’s consular annexe in Damascus, killing seven Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members including two generals.
Iran’s response “will be carried out at the right time, with the necessary precision and planning, and with maximum damage to the enemy so that they regret their action,” chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri said on Saturday, according to AFP.
He was speaking at a ceremony in the central city of Isfahan to commemorate Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the two dead brigadier generals from the al-Quds force, the IRGC’s foreign operations arm.
Zahedi, 63, was the al-Quds force commander for the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Lebanon, according to UK-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He had held several commands during a career spanning more than 40 years, and was the most senior Iranian soldier killed since a US missile strike at Baghdad airport in 2020 killed al-Quds force chief Gen Qassem Suleimani.
AFP reports that on Saturday, crowds at the gathering in Isfahan chanted “down with Israel” and “down with the United States”.
The Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Israel “will be punished” for the killings.
On Friday, IRGC chief Gen Hossein Salami warned that Israel “cannot escape the consequences” of the Damascus strike.
A total of 33,137 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s Gaza offensive, Gaza health ministry says.
At least 33,137 Palestinians have been killed and 75,815 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since Oct.7, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
A Hamas delegation will head to Cairo on Sunday, April 7 for Gaza ceasefire talks, Hamas says.
Israel’s army said on Saturday its troops recovered the body of a hostage abducted by Palestinian militants during the 7 October attack on southern Israeli communities, according to AFP.
“The body of the abductee Elad Katzir, who according to intelligence was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation, was rescued overnight from Khan Younis and returned to Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement.
Katzir, 47 at the time of attack, was abducted from Nir Oz kibbutz community along his mother, Hanna, reports AFP. She was released on 24 November during a one-week truce in the war in Gaza.
Katzir’s father, Avraham was killed during the attack at the kibbutz, the army said.
The recovery of Elad Katzir’s body brings to 12 the number which the army says it has brought home from Gaza during the war.
Turkish authorities have detained 48 people suspected of having ties to Islamic State (IS) in connection with a shooting at an Istanbul church in January, interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X on Saturday, reports Reuters.
One Turkish citizen was killed by two IS gunmen at the Italian Santa Maria Catholic church in Istanbul in January.
Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence agency, told AFP on Saturday that whatever aid is reaching Gaza is “absolutely not sufficient” for its 2.4 million people, with basic necessities “extremely scarce” particularly in northern Gaza. “Children are dying from hunger” there, he said.
According to AFP, Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong said on Saturday that her country had “not yet received sufficient information” from Israel about the death of Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom and the other aid workers killed in an Israeli strike on Monday night.
“It cannot be brushed aside and it cannot be covered over,” Wong said.
The UN Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said in its latest flash update that, 28 children have died of malnutrition and dehydration, as of 1 April. The figures are attributed to the ministry of health in Hamas-run Gaza.
“In the north, the Nutrition Cluster estimates that more than 50,000 children under five are acutely malnourished,” said the OCHA’s agency in the Palestinian territories in a social media post.
In an Oxfam release published on Thursday, the charity said that since January, Palestinians in northern Gaza have been surviving on an average of 245 calories a day.
OCHA’s update on Friday, also highlighted the following:
According to WHO, Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza has been receiving at least 15 malnourished children every day.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child had cautioned: ‘Children in Gaza can no longer wait, as each passing minute risks another child dying of hunger as the world looks on.’”
Iran on Saturday again threatened retaliation for the deaths of seven Revolutionary Guards in a strike on Damascus, with the army chief saying his country’s enemies will “regret” the killings, reports AFP.
Tehran has vowed to avenge Monday’s airstrike on the Syrian capital it blamed on its arch-enemy Israel, which has not commented.
The attack levelled the Iranian embassy’s consular annexe in Damascus, killing seven Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members including two generals.
Iran’s response “will be carried out at the right time, with the necessary precision and planning, and with maximum damage to the enemy so that they regret their action,” chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri said on Saturday, according to AFP.
He was speaking at a ceremony in the central city of Isfahan to commemorate Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the two dead brigadier generals from the al-Quds force, the IRGC’s foreign operations arm.
Zahedi, 63, was the al-Quds force commander for the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Lebanon, according to UK-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He had held several commands during a career spanning more than 40 years, and was the most senior Iranian soldier killed since a US missile strike at Baghdad airport in 2020 killed al-Quds force chief Gen Qassem Suleimani.
AFP reports that on Saturday, crowds at the gathering in Isfahan chanted “down with Israel” and “down with the United States”.
The Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Israel “will be punished” for the killings.
On Friday, IRGC chief Gen Hossein Salami warned that Israel “cannot escape the consequences” of the Damascus strike.
The former UK prime minister, Boris Johnson says a western arms embargo on Israel would “hand victory” to Hamas and has said banning arms sales to Israel would be “insane”. The comments were made in his column in the Daily Mail on Friday.
You can read more of the report from Daniel Lavelle here:
An Iranian journalist who was stabbed outside his London home last week has returned to work, saying the “show must go on”.
Pouria Zeraati was knifed in the leg by a group of three unknown assailants as he approached his car in Wimbledon on 29 March.
The journalist, who works for London-based dissident broadcaster Iran International, has spoken publicly for the first time since the attack and described the stabbing as a “warning shot”. Zeraati told ITV News: “The fact that they just stopped in my leg was their choice to do that.
“They had the opportunity to kill me because the way the second person was holding me and the first person took the knife out, they had the opportunity to stop anywhere they wanted.”
He added: “Whatever the motive was, the show must go on.”
The Metropolitan police has said no arrests have yet been made, but that they are confident suspects “do not present a risk to communities of London or the UK” as detectives believe the three suspects fled the country via Heathrow within hours of the stabbing.
You can read the full piece on this story here:
An Israeli inquiry has blamed a series of “grave errors” by military personnel, including lack of coordination and misidentification, for its killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza through drone strikes.
In an interview with the BBC, Lt Col Peter Lerner of the Israel Defense Forces said the Israeli military had been unable to recognise that the vehicles belonged to the aid organisation. The IDF said it had dismissed a brigade chief of staff with the rank of colonel and a brigade fire support officer with the rank of major and issued formal reprimands to senior officers, including the general at the head of the southern command.
The findings are likely to renew scepticism over the military’s decision-making. Palestinians, aid groups and human rights organisations have accused Israeli forces of firing recklessly at civilians throughout the conflict – a charge Israel denies.
You can see the IDF officer being challenged on the BBC interview here:
Iranian police on Saturday announced the arrest of a senior operative of Islamic State with two other members of the group accused of planning a suicide attack during next week’s celebrations marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, reports Reuters.
The police said Mohammad Zaker, known as “Ramesh”, and the other two were arrested in Karaj, west of the capital Tehran, after clashes, according to Iranian media. Eight others accompanying the men were also detained, they said.
World Central Kitchen has rejected as lacking credibility the findings of an Israeli investigation led by a former general into a coordinated series of Israeli drone strikes on the charity’s vehicles in Gaza this week that killed seven aid workers.
As the Israel Defense Forces blamed a series of “grave errors” by officers for the deadly attack that killed three Britons, three other foreign nationals and a Palestinian colleague while delivering food, WCK renewed its calls for a full and independent investigation.
Amid mounting international pressure on Israel, the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, said the findings of the Israeli inquiry – which he said the UK was reviewing carefully – showed that “major reform” was required.
“It’s clear major reform of Israel’s deconfliction mechanism is badly needed to ensure the safety of aid workers,” Cameron said on X.
The hurriedly completed inquiry, which led to two middle-ranking officers being dismissed and a general reprimanded, outlined a catalogue of failings by Israeli forces in an incident that has reinforced global criticism of Israel’s conduct of a war in which 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in six months.
While welcoming the report as a first step, WCK’s founder, the celebrity chef José Andrés, said: “The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza. It’s not enough to simply try to avoid further humanitarian deaths, which have now approached close to 200. All civilians need to be protected, and all innocent people in Gaza need to be fed and safe. And all hostages must be released.”
You can read the full piece by Peter Beaumont here:
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said he hopes Israel will quickly and effectively boost aid access to Gaza, describing the situation in the region as “absolutely desperate”.
Israel has approved the reopening of the Erez crossing into northern Gaza and temporary use of Ashdod port in southern Israel after the US president, Joe Biden, said conditions could be placed on US support for Israel if it did not act.
Global outrage at the humanitarian crisis escalated after an Israeli airstrike killed seven people working for the international charity World Central Kitchen. Noting that 196 humanitarian workers had been killed so far during Israel’s campaign, Guterres said: “We want to know why.”
You can listen to the comments by Guterres in the video here:
Thousands of people protested in Morocco’s commercial capital Casablanca late on Friday against “massacres” in the Gaza Strip and against the country’s normalisation of ties with Israel, reports AFP.
The protest – the latest large-scale rally of its kind in Morocco – was called by the banned but tolerated Islamist group al-Adl wal-Ihsane, according to the news agency.
Al-Adl wal-Ihsane also organised similar gatherings in the capital Rabat and the port of Tangier.
The demonstrations were held to mark the last Friday in the holy fasting month of Ramadan, and al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day when annual rallies in support of the Palestinans are held around the region.
“Normalisation is a hoax” and “Down with the occupation”, protesters chanted in Casablanca, reports AFP.
“We came to say ’no’ to the barbaric massacres Israel is committing against Palestinians, to the destruction in Gaza … and to the silence of the Arab states,” protest organiser Mohammed Riahi told AFP.
Casablanca lawyer Mohammed Ennouini, 51, told the news agency: “Normalising ties between Arab states and Israel gives it the green light to keep killing civilians.”
Rabat has officially denounced what it said were “flagrant violations of the provisions of international law” by Israel in its war against Hamas, but has not given any indication that normalisation with Israel would be undone.
US and Israeli negotiators are expected in Cairo over the weekend for a renewed push to reach a ceasefire-hostage deal in a war that has raged for nearly half a year, reports news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Ahead of the talks, US president Joe Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urging them to dial up pressure on Hamas to “agree to and abide by a deal,” a senior administration official told AFP on Friday night.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have engaged for months in behind-the-scenes talks to broker a ceasefire and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but have made no headway since a week-long truce in November.
The White House confirmed that negotiations would occur this weekend in Cairo, but would not comment on US media reports that CIA director Bill Burns would be attending, along with Israel spy chief David Barnea, Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.
Israel and Hamas, which negotiate through intermediaries, have traded blame for the lack of progress, say AFP.
“This basic fact remains true: There would be a ceasefire in Gaza today had Hamas simply agreed to release this vulnerable category of hostages – the sick, wounded, elderly, and young women,” the senior Biden administration official said.
Hamas officials and Qatari mediator Al-Thani have previously accused Israel of stymying the truce with objections over the return of displaced Palestinian civilians and the ratio of prisoners to hostages.
During a phone call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden pushed him to “fully empower” his negotiators to reach a deal.
It has just gone 9am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest Guardian live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
The US is on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran targeting Israeli or US assets in the region in response to Israel’s strike on the Iranian embassy in Syria, a US official told the Reuters news agency.
“We’re definitely at a high state of vigilance,” the official said in confirming a CNN report that said an attack could come in the next week.
Iran has said it reserves the right “to take a decisive response” after suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in Damascus on Monday. The strike killed an Iranian military commander and marked a major escalation in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries.
More on that in a moment but first, here is a summary of the latest developments:
The Israeli military said on Friday that it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.
World Central Kitchen has rejected as lacking credibility the findings of an Israeli investigation led by a former general into the coordinated series of Israeli drone strikes on the charity’s vehicles in Gaza.
The UN Human Rights Council has demanded a halt in all arms sales to Israel, highlighting warnings of “genocide” in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 33,000 people.
More than three dozen congressional Democrats – including representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and a key Joe Biden ally – signed a letter to the president and the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.
The US was looking into a media report that the Israeli military has been using artificial intelligence to help identify bombing targets in Gaza, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN in an interview on Thursday.
The Guardian has revealed the identity of the commander of Israel’s Unit 8200, which is a closely guarded secret. He occupies one of the most sensitive roles in the military, leading one of the world’s most powerful surveillance agencies, comparableto the US National Security Agency. Yet after spending more than two decades operating in the shadows, the controversial spy chief – whose name is Yossi Sariel – has left his identity exposed online.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said he sincerely hopedIsrael quickly and effectively boosted aid access to the Gaza Strip, describing the situation in the Palestinian territory after six months of war as “absolutely desperate”. He was “deeply troubled” by reports that the Israeli military has been using artificial intelligence to help identify bombing targets in Gaza.
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Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A 4.8-magnitude earthquake shook residents in the greater New York City on Friday morning, impacting trains and flights as officials assessed for any damages.
Residents were further rattled by an aftershock that followed later that day, reportedly causing rumbling from Pennsylvania to New York to New Jersey.
In preliminary information, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a 4.0 earthquake around 5pm local time [2200 GMT], centred 7km (4.3 miles) southwest of Gladstone, New Jersey. That’s less than a 20 minute drive northwest of the epicenter of the reported 4.8-magnitude earthquake from earlier that morning.
One resident of New York City’s Brooklyn borough said on X that the back-to-back quakes mean New York should be called “California 2.0,” a reference to the Golden State’s far more regular seismic activity.
The New York City office of emergency management said in a statement that there were “no major damage reports” in the wake of the aftershock.
The quakes caused residents of nearby places like New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut to report buildings shaking as the ground quivered in a rarely-felt earthquake.
Aftershocks could “continue for several days and even a week,” Kishor S Jaiswal, a research structural engineer with the USGS, told The New York Times.
The USGS reported the initial earthquake was around 7.5km deep (4.7 miles) and extended to surrounding states.
Soon after, residents received an emergency alert acknowledging the earthquake and warning that aftershocks are possible.
The USGS’ estimated range of impact from the earthquake on Friday morning (USGS )
Noticeable earthquakes, like the one on Friday morning, are rare in the New York City area. Ones that can be felt may be perceived as more dangerous, though local officials said there were no signs of damages or injuries. New York City’s Emergency Management asked people not to call 911 unless they were in danger.
But the quake did have real impacts on people’s day-to-day.
A flight ground stop was issued for Newark Libert International Airport and John F Kennedy airport while arrivals into La Guardia Airport and Teterboro Airport were temporarily halted.
Earthquakes are measured based on magnitude and intensity. Seismologists measure magnitude on various scales, notably the Richter and Moment Magnitude scale.
The Richter scale, which is arguably the most well-known form of measuring earthquakes, measures the largest amplitude on the recording but experts say it is an outdated way of measuring earthquakes.
The Moment Magnitude scale is the current way the USGS measures magnitude. It combines the body wave, surface wave and Richter scale classification to create the most reliable estimate of earthquake size.
New York governor Kathy Hochul, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro and Connecticut governor Ned Lamont all said they had been briefed on the earthquake and were assessing any damages or impacts.
So far, there have been no reports of damages or injuries.
Israel’s army said on Saturday its troops had recovered the body of a man abducted by Palestinian militants on October 7, but faced criticism from the victim’s sister that he had not been saved while alive.
“The body of the abductee Elad Katzir, who according to intelligence was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation, was rescued overnight from Khan Yunis and returned to Israeli territory,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
His sister, Carmit Katzir, announced on Facebook that his body had been returned to Israel and lambasted the Israeli government for not doing enough to bring back the hostages.
The IDF spokesperson will tell you about the brave rescue operation, she said, but “the IDF spokesman will not tell you that the prime minister, the cabinet and the IDF have no idea where most of the kidnapped, the alive and murdered are held.”
“He won’t tell you either that they have no way to protect the kidnapped, even when they know where they are,” she adds in the post, claiming that her brother “could have been saved if a deal would have happened on time,” she continued.
Addressing the “cowardly” government, she says, “Look at yourselves in the mirror and see if your hands didn’t spill that blood. You have 133 more kidnappers to redeem, worlds to save.”
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By Bernd Debusmann Jr
BBC News, Baltimore
US President Joe Biden vowed to "move heaven and earth" to help Baltimore recover from a deadly bridge collapse that blocked the city's port.
He added the government will "help you rebuild and maintain all the business and commerce that's here now".
Along with killing six workers, the collapse trapped a massive ship in one of the busiest ports on the East Coast, used by companies such as Amazon.
So far, $60m (£47.4m) has been earmarked for the clean-up effort.
The final cost of clearing the waterway and rebuilding the bridge is likely to be far higher, with some lawmakers estimating it could rise to hundreds of millions of dollars. One, Maryland Democrat David Trone, told CBS, the BBC's US partner, that he believes the cost could be as high as $1bn.
On Friday, Mr Biden re-iterated a previous commitment to help Baltimore fund the recovery process and rebuilding effort.
"I fully intend...that the federal government [will] cover the cost of building this entire bridge. All of it," he said, calling on Congress to authorize funding "as soon as possible".
During his visit, Mr Biden, who has family ties to the city, took an aerial tour of the collapsed area alongside Maryland Governor Wes Moore and other senior officials involved in the salvage effort, before meeting with emergency personnel.
Speaking in the Baltimore suburb of Dundalk - with the cargo ship, the Dali, and the ruined bridge clearly visible - Mr Biden said the federal government will "move heaven and earth" to rebuild the bridge "as rapidly as humanly possible".
He added that the reconstruction effort will be done with "union labour and American steel."
The port is a vital economic hub that is linked to more than 15,000 jobs.
"Folks, we all need to step up," he added, "Amazon, Home Depot...and other companies all rely on this port, and they have committed to keep workers on payrolls."
In his remarks, Mr Biden also directed a message to the families of the "working, strong, selfless" men who died in the accident, with whom he was also scheduled to meet during his visit. All six were immigrants from Mexico and Central America.
"Never forget the contributions these men made to this city," he said. "We're going to keep working hard to recover each of them."
In a 5 April letter to senior members of House and Senate committees focused on infrastructure, transportation, public works and the environment, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalonda Young wrote that the administration would pursue "all avenues to recover the costs of past, current and future work".
In the wake of the crash, the "unified command" responsible for the response opened two smaller temporary shipping channels in the area to allow limited maritime traffic to pass through.
By the end of April, officials hope to open a limited access channel 280ft (80m) wide and 35ft (10m) deep to allow one-way traffic for barge containers and some other vessels that carry cars and equipment.
The entire, permanent channel is expected to be clear and ready for use by the end of May, the unified command said in a statement earlier this week.
That timeline, however, may change due to weather and unexpected complications with the salvage effort.
