Nearly 20 people gathered this Friday, January 17 at Place du Trocadéro in Paris to call, like every week, for the release of the hostages still held in Gaza. Some held up photographs, others held signs saying “it’s not over” or “we’re not giving up”.
Around 200 people gathered on Friday noon at Place du Trocadéro in Paris to call, as they do every week, for the release of hostages still held in Gaza, noted an AFP journalist. Gathered behind a large banner “Free the hostages”, the demonstrators listened to four speakers read brief texts paying tribute to the hostages during this gathering of “mothers of hope”, organized every Friday since October 7, 2023 by the Council representative of the Jewish institutions of France (Crif) and the Israeli educational and social organization Wizo.
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Some held up photographs, others held signs saying “it’s not over” or “we’re not giving up”. Among the demonstrators were the former journalist Anne Sinclair, the actress Danièle Evenou, the former mayor of Sarcelles François Pupponi as well as the mayor of the 16th arrondissement of Paris Jérémy Redler and the MP Caroline Yadan (French from abroad). But many anonymous people were also there: “Since October 7, I have felt in apnea,” Joëlle Abitbol, a 73-year-old Catholic, assured AFP, who comes every week because “this story of anti-Semitism makes me upset”. When they are released, “what state will the hostages be in?” she asked herself.
“It would be progress if they were all released,” added her neighbor, Martine Gotlib, 67. Underlining how this day was “special” with the prospect of a possible release of the hostages, Crif President Yonathan Arfi assured journalists that he welcomed the agreement “with hope and a share of concern” because “we know that the ‘agreement is fragile’ and ‘may fail at any time’.
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“The honor of democracies is knowing how to value life above all else”
As for the two Franco-Israeli hostages, “we are obviously relieved to see that their names are among the first 33 who would be released,” assured Yonathan Arfi, emphasizing “not having any information” on their state of health “nor even the fact that they would be alive.”
Stressing that the agreement would also lead to “the release of many prisoners, some of whom have blood on their hands”, Yonathan Arfi assured that “the honor of democracies is to know how to value life above all else”. The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
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At least 46,707 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Israeli military campaign of retaliation in the Gaza Strip which also caused a humanitarian disaster, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry deemed reliable by the UN.
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