Tel Aviv, Israel
Reuters
Thousands of Israelis rallied against their government on Saturday, with some demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu call off the half-year-old war in Gaza amid a deadlock in diplomatic efforts to retrieve hostages held there by Hamas.
Hamas-led gunmen seized 253 people during an 7th October attack on Israel that killed 1,200 others, according to officials. Some hostages were freed in a November truce but Egyptian- and Qatari-mediated efforts to secure another deal appear to have stalled.
People hold Israeli flags as they attend a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and to call for the release of hostages kidnapped in the deadly 7th October attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas from Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 13th April. 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Hannah McKay
As concern mounts in Israel for the wellbeing of the 129 remaining hostages, who cannot be contacted, their families and friends have organised increasingly vocal demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightist government.
They have dovetailed with activists who have long called for Netanyahu’s ouster given his trial on graft charges – which he denies – and his attempts to overhaul the judiciary last year.
“Our country’s near the abyss. We’ve already started to drive down and we must stop it. I’m here to gather the force to tell the people that they need to come out and they need to tell our government that it’s time to stop,” said Marva Erez, 45, who was among demonstrators in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu said he will continue with the war to dismantle Hamas, despite alarm in Washington and other Western capitals at the civilian toll in Gaza, where medical officials say more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Hamas has said any new hostage deal must bring about an end to the Gaza war and withdrawal of all Israeli forces.
“There will be a ([hostage] deal,” Culture Minister Miki Zohar, a senior member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, told Channel 12 TV. “But not at any price.”
The anti-government protest in Tel Aviv was held separately to a smaller vigil for the hostages. Many of those taking part in the latter event soon merged with the bigger demonstration.
Michael Levy, whose brother Or is among the hostages, said he was protesting because “we have no time for the talks”.
“We need actions. We need to get them home,” he said.
Israeli tanks manoeuvre on their way to Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, on 10th April, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Amir Cohen /File photo
Meanwhile, Hamas has rejected an Israeli ceasefire proposal, saying on Saturday it had handed to mediators in Egypt and Qatar its response to the proposal it had received last Monday.
“We…reaffirm our adherence to our demands and the national demands of our people; with a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of the occupation army from the entire Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced to their areas and places of residence, intensification of the entry of relief and aid, and the start of reconstruction,” the Islamist faction said.
Hamas said on Saturday it was ready to conclude a prisoners-for-hostages swap deal with Israel that would see the release of 133 hostages still believed to be held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinians jailed in Israel.
There was no official Israeli comment on Hamas’ response.
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The Hamas statement came a few days after Israel killed several members of the family of the group’s chief Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, raising fears among the families of hostages that it would derail efforts to secure their release from Gaza.
Speaking to Reuters in Qatar a day after the killing, Haniyeh said his group still sought a deal but accused Israel of procrastinating and evading a response to the group’s demands.
Global calls for a ceasefire have been growing as the war has entered its seventh month, but there has been little sign of progress in the talks.
Hamas is demanding an end to the Israeli offensive, a withdrawal of Israeli forces, and permission for Gaza’s displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.
– Additional reporting by ADAM MAKARY and AHMED TOLBA
