in Tel Aviv, Israelis demand the return of hostages

Posters of the hostages and flags in hand, they demanded “An agreement now”, “Stop the war”, assuring that “We will not abandon them”, like every week since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, on a renamed square “Hostages Square” in the economic capital of Israel.

“There have been countless opportunities to end this crisis and each one has been torpedoed by the government”Zahiro Shahar Mor told AFP. “The cycle of violence is getting worse week after week and we don’t see the end”explains this 52-year-old bank employee whose uncle, Avraham Munder, died in captivity. They are calling for a negotiated truce with Hamas as Israel claims to have achieved the majority of its military objectives, including the elimination last month of the leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Yahya Sinouar.

For the government, US officials and experts, Yahya Sinouar, considered the mastermind of the bloody October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, was the main obstacle to a truce agreement. Ifat Kalderon, cousin of Franco-Israeli hostage Ofer Kalderon, accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “sabotaging” all attempts at a truce.

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Humanitarian disaster

“Every time we try a hostage deal, he sabotages it. He made Sinouar responsible and now that he is no longer there, he finds another reason every time”the 50-year-old stylist, a figure in the anti-government protest, told AFP. “It’s a bloody war, it has to stop, enough is enough. There are so many soldiers who died, and ordinary citizens” she adds, referring to civilian victims, both Israeli and Palestinian.

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or died in captivity. Of 251 people kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a devastating offensive in Gaza, which left 43,314 dead, mostly civilians, according to Hamas Health Ministry data, and caused colossal destruction and a humanitarian disaster.

The demonstrators also support the tens of thousands of soldiers, including many reservists recalled to the flags, exhausted by a war which has lasted for more than a year in Gaza. Others hope for greater involvement from the United States, Israel’s historic ally which is holding its presidential election on Tuesday. “I hope the winner will be mature enough to take the kids of the Middle East by the ear and bring them to the negotiating table”Lance Zahiro Shahar Mor.

He says he is “disappointed, frustrated and angry” to see the hostages still being held in Gaza but he “remains hopeful for those who are still alive”. The mediating countries – Egypt, the United States and Qatar – last week relaunched indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement, which had been at a standstill since the summer. They include a short truce that would allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged territory and a limited exchange of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel for hostages. A first truce in November 2023 allowed the return of 105 hostages.

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Right-wing coalition

But Hamas refuses any proposal that “does not include a permanent cessation of aggression nor the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip nor the return of displaced persons”. Mr. Netanyahu, at the head of a right-wing coalition, is accused by his opponents of blocking talks in order to stay in power, which he strongly denies.

For Simone Spak Safran, a 77-year-old protester living in Herzliya north of Tel Aviv, the government “doesn’t care” about the hostages. Some draft agreements “did not succeed, and not only because of Hamas. I don’t expect anything from the government.”she said.