Hostages: Protesters summon negotiators to find an agreement

Israelis gathered Saturday evening in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to call for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip that would open the door to the release of the hostages. They urged the government to finally bring talks between the two parties to fruition as the army found, a few days ago, the remains of a father and his son who, it said, had been kidnapped alive by the Hamas terrorist group on October 7, 2023, and who were ultimately killed while in captivity.

In Tel Aviv, one person was arrested while demonstrating against the government, police said. In Jerusalem, the brief detention of a clown, who had become a central figure in anti-government protests, aroused the anger of the crowd who had gathered in front of the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne “survived the depths of hell and they were assassinated because you did not make the right decision at the right time,” declared Shiri Albag during a speech made during the weekly demonstration which is organized on Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, challenging Netanyahu and his Defense Minister, Israel Katz.

An intervention which took place a week after the broadcast, by Hamas, of a video in which appeared his daughter, Liri Albag, a young IDF soldier aged 19 who had been kidnapped during the pogrom of October 7.

A total of 251 people were kidnapped and taken hostage in Gaza.

Albag said the clip is “the illustration and living testimony of the constant failures of Netanyahu and Katz.”

“Look at his eyes,” she added, addressing the demonstrators. “Those eyes that we know so well…Those eyes that scream: ‘Take me out of hell. Don’t forget me’. »

Signaling that negotiations appear to be making progress, Netanyahu’s office announced late Saturday that he had decided to send a high-ranking delegation to Qatar to take part in efforts to reach a deal with Hamas.

The team that left Saturday evening includes Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, IDF hostage official Major General (reservist) Nitzan Alon , and Netanyahu’s political advisor, Ophir Falk.

A decision that was taken after the prime minister conducted an assessment of the situation regarding the ongoing negotiations – an assessment in which Katz and the heads of the Israeli security services participated. Representatives from the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump were also in attendance.

Netanyahu also met in Jerusalem during the day with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s new envoy for Middle East issues. Witkoff is expected to return to Qatar to participate in negotiations with the high-ranking Israeli delegation, a source told Times of Israel.

Trump has repeatedly threatened Hamas with “hell” if a deal is not finalized before he takes office on January 20 – and the firmness of his speech is believed to have contributed to advance the negotiations.

Speaking to protesters in English, outgoing US Ambassador Jack Lew said the US was pushing for the deal. He recalled that American citizens were also among the hostages.

“The United States demands the release of seven of our hostages; we know four are already dead – and they need to be released now! “, exclaimed Lew, pronouncing the last word in Hebrew to thunderous applause.

“There could be a ceasefire tomorrow, with an end to the suffering of Gaza residents, if Hamas releases the hostages,” he added.

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew speaks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, January 11, 2025. (Paulina Patimer / Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Other international ambassadors also spoke – some taking advantage of this platform offered to them to discuss the plight of the inhabitants of Gaza, victims of a humanitarian crisis in the context of the war which had been triggered by the pogrom of Hamas, a massacre which left more than 1,200 dead.

“I know it’s not very popular to say it but these tragedies are linked,” said the German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, who called in Hebrew for an end to the “indescribable suffering of hundreds of thousands of Gazans” and to free the hostages.

British Ambassador Simon Walters also chose to address protesters in Hebrew, recalling his childhood in war-torn Northern Ireland – an experience he said illustrated the sacrifices necessary for peace.

“Every step towards peace was very painful – but it was the only possible solution,” he noted. “Hamas is fully responsible for all these crimes, but in practice we know that the only way to bring the hostages home is to negotiate.”

Demonstrators protest against the Israeli government and for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv, January 11, 2025. (Itai Ron/Flash90)

At a news conference that preceded the rally, relatives of the hostages angrily accused the government of being unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to reach a deal. They spoke a few days after sending a letter to Netanyahu accusing him of using young Israelis as “cannon fodder”, a letter signed by a thousand parents of soldiers currently fighting on the land, in Gaza.

“Instead of getting the hostages returned alive, we are seeing them return in body bags. Only in Israel is a total failure presented to the public as a ‘heroic operation,’” lamented Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of murdered hostage Yoram Metzger. “We don’t want you to send more soldiers who will lose their lives carrying the remains of Gaza. We don’t want more soldiers to end up in an unnecessary war. »

At an anti-government demonstration in nearby Tel Aviv, demonstrators forcefully condemned reforms to the justice system that were recently advanced by the government. Barak Medina, a legal scholar, told the crowd that the proposed changes would “destroy the justice system as an independent branch of government.”

Demonstrators protest against the Israeli government and for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv, January 11, 2025. (Itai Ron/Flash90)

The reforms, the content of which was unveiled Thursday by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, appear to be a softened version of the plan for a radical overhaul of the justice system that had been proposed in the past. by the government – ​​a plan that had led to massive protests across the country in 2023. Critics say the new proposal, which gives opposition politicians greater influence in choosing judges, retains measures that will strengthen the control exercised by the policies on justice, while reducing the latter’s ability to control the government or the Knesset.

Medina, a former rector of the Hebrew University, who is now representing 112 parents of hostages in a petition before the High Court – a petition that accuses the government of denying the captives’ basic rights by failing to obtain not their release – explained that politicians should focus on the issue of releasing the hostages and ending the war rather than focusing their efforts on the plan to radically overhaul the justice system.

Limor Livnat – a former Likud supporter who has become a fervent critic of the Prime Minister’s party – also followed the initiative advocated by Saar and Levin.

Demonstrators protest against the Israeli government and for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv, January 11, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” she said bitterly. “The members of the coalition are able to come to an agreement. They are even capable of agreeing to cancel the elections.”

Afterwards, some hostage families joined the protesters during a rally organized in front of the IDF headquarters.

Police said the majority of those present dispersed peacefully, adding that some stayed to light a fire, triggering clashes with officers.

“The police were caught in clashes with the demonstrators, who blocked the passage and who prevented the police from putting out the fire. The latter were pushed around and the protesters refused to leave,” the police noted in a press release. “Subsequently, the officers were forced to use force to put out the bonfire.”

Authorities said one person was arrested for disturbing the peace.

In Jerusalem’s Paris Square, police arrested clown Hashoteret Az-Oolay – a pillar of the protest movement in the capital – outside the prime minister’s residence.

Police arrest a clown during a hostage family protest in Jerusalem, January 11, 2025. (Jess Flom)

Wearing traditional clown makeup and dressed in a fake police uniform, Az-Oolay has become one of the faces of protests for the release of hostages – she is known for handing out heart-shaped stickers to activists, police officers and passers-by.

Her arrest sparked outrage among nearby protesters and the news quickly spread throughout the gathering – whose master of ceremonies praised Az-Oolay, noting that she was “ the best-known figure of the Jerusalem protests.”

“She is a figure of love, giving, acceptance and help given to others – and it is her that the police chose to arrest,” protested the speaker. The crowd immediately chanted the slogan “Shame! » in the direction of the police.

After about half an hour, the police brought the young woman back to the Paris square where the protest movement was taking place.

HaShoteret Az-Oolay, “the policewoman then perhaps”, during a demonstration protesting the expulsion of Palestinian families from the contested Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, December 2021. (Gilad Bashan)

An estimated 94 of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 are still in Gaza – including the bodies of at least 34 people whose deaths have been confirmed by the Israeli military.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a week-long truce at the end of November 2023 and four hostages were previously released. Eight captives were rescued alive by the soldiers, and the remains of 40 hostages were also found – including those of three captives who had been accidentally killed by the IDF while trying to escape their captors.

Hamas also holds two Israeli civilians who entered the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two soldiers who were killed in 2014.