Netanyahu Refuses to Back Down Over Hostages After Mass Protests

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to bow to political pressure to do a deal with Hamas over the hostages and insisted the Israeli military needed to retain control of a strip of territory bordering Egypt, to prevent weapons being smuggled into the Gaza strip. At least 500,000 Israelis demonstrated in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and other cities Monday, demanding Netanyahu do more to bring home the remaining 101 hostages. But Netanyahu said the Philadelphi corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt, was vital to ensuring Hamas could not use tunnels beneath it to resupply its gunmen. He said, “This is the oxygen of Hamas.”...