Israel-Gaza War: Anti-government protesters clash with Tel Aviv police, demand hostage deal | Israel-Gaza War

Scuffles between Israeli police and protesters broke out in Tel Aviv after thousands gathered to demonstrate against the government and demand it repatriate hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Meanwhile, a small U.S. military vessel and what appeared to be a mooring area ran aground Saturday on a beach near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, not far from the U.S.-built pier -United States on which the Israeli army declared that humanitarian aid was being delivered. in the Palestinian territory.

Some protesters in Tel Aviv carried photos of the female soldiers who appeared in a video earlier in the week showing them shortly after they were kidnapped during Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7. Some held banners reading: Stop the war and Help me. They called on the government to reach an agreement to free the dozens of hostages still in captivity.

Protesters also called for the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanded new elections.

“We all saw the video, we couldn’t stay at home after the government abandoned all these people,” said Hilit Sagi, of the group Women Protest for the Return of All Hostages.

Seven people were arrested during the protest Saturday evening and at least one person was injured, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Protests also took place elsewhere in the country, notably in the port city of Haifa, the newspaper writes.

Divisions among Israelis deepened over Netanyahu’s handling of the war against Hamas after the attack that killed about 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel says around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 others.

About 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry, many of them women and children. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings and tens of thousands injured.

“In principle, they are not doing enough to bring the hostages back, neither through military force nor through negotiations. Nothing is being done,” said Snir Dahan, uncle of hostage Carmel Gat, still in captivity in Gaza.

Earlier this week, the bodies of three hostages were found in Gaza, the Israeli army announced Friday. The army said they were killed on the day of the attack and their bodies were transported to Gaza. The announcement comes less than a week after the army said it had found the bodies of three other Israeli hostages killed on October 7.

About half of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas and other militants have been freed, most of them against Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a week-long ceasefire in November.

Netanyahu’s government faces growing pressure, both at home and abroad, to stop the war and allow humanitarian aid into the enclave that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, including nearly 80% were displaced.

This week, three European countries announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, as well as Hamas officials.

The International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Israel to end its military offensive in the southern Gaza town of Rafah and open the nearby border crossing to crucial humanitarian aid. The UN’s top court also said Israel must allow war crimes investigators access to Gaza.

However, the judges did not order a complete ceasefire across the entire Palestinian territory, and Israel is unlikely to comply with the court’s ruling: on Saturday it continued to bomb Rafah and Palestinian doctors said 45 people were killed in Israeli attacks throughout the month. territory, including women and children, during the last 24 hours.

South Africa, which took the case to the ICJ in December, accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians during the Gaza war, which Israel vehemently denies.

One man, Abu Mohammad, said he and his family were sheltering at a school in the Gaza suburb of Saftawi with other families when an Israeli missile hit a courtyard outside a classroom where women were baking bread.

“We were sitting quietly, then there was a boom, a missile from a controlled drone or a regular drone, but it caused huge damage,” he told Reuters. He said several people had been killed, adding: “Even schools are no longer safe.”

The Israeli military said it was studying the report.

Over the past two weeks, more than a million Palestinians have fled Rafah as Israeli forces move deeper into the city. Israel’s capture this month of the Rafah border crossing, a key transit point for fuel and supplies destined for Gaza, helped drive aid operations to near collapse, the UN and organizations say humanitarians.

Israel claims it must invade Rafah to destroy Hamas’ last bastion. Egypt said it agreed to send U.N. humanitarian aid trucks through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, Israel’s main entry point into southern Gaza. But we do not know if the trucks will be able to enter because the fighting is still raging in Rafah.

Israel says aid enters the Palestinian territory through northern Gaza and via the US-built pier. But on Saturday, a small U.S. military boat and what appeared to be a mooring area washed up on a beach near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.

The US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement that four ships supporting the floating aid delivery dock had broken away from their moorings in rough seas. No injuries were reported and the aid dock remains fully functional, Centcom said in a statement, adding that no U.S. personnel would enter Gaza.

Two of the affected vessels were now anchored on the beach near the pier and the other two were stranded on the Israeli coast near Ashkelon, Centcom said, adding that efforts to recover the vessels were underway with the help of the Israeli Navy.

U.S. officials hope the pier, at maximum capacity, can deliver the equivalent of 150 aid trucks to Gaza daily. But that’s just a fraction of the 600 truckloads of food, emergency nutritional treatment and other supplies that USAID says are needed every day to bring Gaza residents back from the brink of famine and cope. to the humanitarian crisis created by the Israeli offensive.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report