Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces rival pressures at home and abroad as he weighs how far to go with an operation against Hamas in Rafah that has dimmed hopes of returning Israeli hostages.
Anti-government street demonstrations by families and supporters of the 130 or so hostages still in Gaza have become a regular occurrence, with protesters demanding a ceasefire deal with Hamas to bring them home.
Others are calling for the government and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to continue the operation in Rafah against the remnants of Hamas that began this week with airstrikes and fighting on the outskirts.
"We welcome the decision to join Rafa. We think that's how negotiations are conducted in the Middle East," said Mirit Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Mothers of IDF Soldiers group, which advocates uncompromising pressure on Hamas to surrender.
The competing pressures reflect divisions in Netanyahu's cabinet between centrist ministers who do not want to alienate the US, Israel's main ally and arms supplier, and religious nationalist hardliners determined to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
Hamas put Netanyahu in a dilemma this week when it said it had accepted an Egyptian-brokered proposal to end fighting in exchange for a hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Israeli officials rejected the offer, accusing Hamas of changing the terms of the deal. However, that has not stopped the negotiations and shuttle diplomacy continues, with CIA chief Bill Burns in Israel yesterday to meet with Netanyahu.
Protests on both continents
Internationally, protests against Israel's campaign in Gaza have spread.
Dutch riot police clashed with barricaded protesters at the University of Amsterdam yesterday, while police in several US cities arrested dozens of protesters and dismantled overnight encampments at universities, as student-led protests against Israel's war in Gaza roiled campuses across both continents.
More than 100 staff members of European Union institutions gathered yesterday in Brussels to protest against the war in Gaza. Protesters laid three rolled up white sheets with red spots on the square in front of the European Commission headquarters in the Belgian capital, Reuters reported.
Three "bodies" have the words International Law, EU Treaties and the Genocide Convention written on them, in protest at the way Israel responded to the Hamas attacks on October 7.
"We gather in peace to stand up for those rights, principles and values on which the European institutions are based," European Commission staff member Manus Carlisle told Reuters.
“For the reasons we work here and we love working here. These are the values of human rights, human dignity and especially freedom".
The European Commission did not comment on the protest.
"Hostages can't wait"
After seven months of war, polls show that public opinion in Israel is increasingly divided.
"I understand that it is necessary to defeat Hamas, but I think that can wait, and the hostages cannot wait," said Elisheva Liebler (52) from Jerusalem. "Every second they spend there is an immediate danger to their lives."
Netanyahu has so far managed to hold the cabinet together, having rejected Hamas' latest proposal for a ceasefire, but has kept the talks alive by sending mid-level officials to Cairo, where Egyptian mediators are overseeing the process.
But the risks he faces by opposing the deal, as his far-right partners want, were highlighted on Tuesday when Washington halted an arms shipment to signal opposition to the attack on Rafah.
The widespread perception that he is to blame for the security lapses that allowed Hamas to overwhelm Israel's defenses around Gaza has fueled mistrust among many Israelis who otherwise support strong action against Hamas.
A survey for Channel 13 showed that 56 percent of Israelis think political survival is Netanyahu's main motive, while only 30 percent think it is the release of hostages.
A survey by the Israel Institute for Democracy showed that slightly more than half of the population believed that an agreement to rescue the hostages should be the government's top priority, compared to the goal of destroying the remaining Hamas formations.
However, a separate poll by the Jewish People's Policy Institute (JPPI) found that 61 percent believed the army must operate in Rafah no matter what. According to a poll by Channel 13, 41 percent are in favor of accepting the agreement, and 44 percent are against it.
"I don't trust Hamas at all," said 81-year-old David Taub from Jerusalem. "The only solution is to conquer Rafa and then maybe, we hope, we pray, the hostages will return to us".
Netanyahu is currently dependent on two hard-liners from the nationalist religious bloc, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who reject any compromise proposal.
Both have repeatedly clashed with centrist Benny Gantz, a former general who joined the emergency military government after Oct. 7 and is the leading candidate to replace Netanyahu after new elections.
Gantz and his ally Gadi Eizenkot, another former military chief, are staunch enemies of Hamas, but both are worried about deteriorating relations with the US.
For the desperate families of the hostages, the hope of their safe return trumps all other considerations.
Niva Venkert, the mother of 22-year-old hostage Omer Venkert, said she had no choice but to trust Israeli leaders, but that not enough was being done.
"The hostages are still in Gaza, the military operations have almost stopped and the feelings are very, very bad. I want Omar to come back".
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