The government must respond to a petition by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, demanding that it provide comprehensive explanations for its reasons to continue the military operations in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, Supreme Court Justice Khaled Kabub ruled Sunday.
Hamas is holding 50 hostages captive and is using them as a playing card to demand an end to the war.
The government said it plans to invade and occupy northern Gaza. The IDF has warned that further action could endanger the lives of the remaining hostages.
The forum submitted an amended petition to the High Court of Justice, arguing that the government must explain the reasoning behind its decision to continue the war.
Why the government must reveal the reasons to continue the war
The petition does not question the court’s authority to order the government to agree to a ceasefire deal, but rather to reveal the full range of reasons to the public so that the people can judge for themselves, Kabub said.
Moran Savorai, an attorney for the forum, said: “I stand here in representation of the petitioners, but also in representation of the hostages who are suffering in Hamas’s tunnels and, I believe, in representation of all Israeli citizens.”
“After reading the government’s response, we are even more worried than before,” she said. “The response reveals that the government was uninvolved, and that the relevant authority to deal with the question was the wrong one.”
Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.