Protesters also demanded an immediate ceasefire to end more than eight months of fighting in Gaza, which has killed nearly 38,000 Palestinians and at least 318 Israeli soldiers.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv to demand that the Israeli government do more to secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
The protesters carried photos of some of the Israelis captured during Hamas’s incursion into Israel last October, in which some 250 people were arrested.
Protesters also demanded an immediate ceasefire to end more than eight months of fighting in Gaza, which has killed nearly 38,000 Palestinians and at least 318 Israeli soldiers.
“I am here tonight on behalf of my brother Keith, who has been a hostage in Gaza for 267 days. I am here to speak on his behalf. He cannot speak for himself. I am here to tell everyone who will listen and even those who will not listen that any deal we can make must be made. The war must end. My brother must come home,” said Lee Siegel, whose brother Keith was captured by Hamas last year.
But there is also a strong anti-government element in the weekly protests, with many demonstrators demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu call new elections and resign. Some accuse him of prioritizing his political survival over the lives of Israeli hostages.
“The continuation of this war means the killing of the hostages by the Israeli government. The blood is on your hands. Time and again, Netanyahu has sabotaged this agreement at the moment of truth, boasting in his own voice or through an unnamed government official, saying that he would not agree to end this war. Netanyahu must not be allowed to sabotage this agreement either,” said Snir Daan, whose cousin Carmel remains detained in Gaza.
Axios reported Friday that officials in Washington proposed new language for parts of the proposed ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas in an effort to reach an agreement.
Efforts by Arab mediators have failed to achieve a definitive cessation of hostilities, with Hamas and Israel blaming each other for the lack of progress.
Hamas says any deal must include the full withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, but Israel has only agreed in principle to temporary pauses in fighting, saying the complete eradication of Hamas is a precondition for security nationality of Israel.
The Israeli offensive in retaliation for Hamas’s incursion into Israel has left the densely populated Gaza Strip almost entirely in ruins.
