The Israelis were preparing to organize rallies across the country on Saturday evening to request an agreement for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, as negotiations in Doha blocked and reached a dead end.
In Habima Square in Tel Aviv, the anti-government rally will start at 7:00 p.m. and will be titled by the activist lawyer Eliad Shraga.
Subsequently, a demonstration led by the Otages and Disappeared Families forum should be held outside the Kirya military seat.
Additional demonstrations are planned across the country, especially in Jerusalem, where a walk will start at 8:30 p.m. in Zion Square and go to a rally in Paris Square, near the Prime Minister’s official residence.
Earlier on Saturday, thousands of people marched to Kiryat Bialik calling for the release of Matan Aregrest, a soldier of TDI and resident of the suburbs of Haifa, who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and who remains in captivity.
The mother of Angrest, Anat, delivered a speech during the walk, held in Kiryat Bialik each year in the past 42 years: “It was a moving morning. Seeing thousands of walkers who came to identify and demand his release – strengthens and gives hope. Your support gives us the strength to continue working for your return.
Hostage Matan Agrest is seen in a propaganda video published by Hamas on March 7, 2025. (Screen capture: Telegram)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled the remaining members of the hostage team of Israel of Doha on Thursday after reminding the team’s high -ranking members for consultations after a week of “intensive” negotiations.
The announcement follows the reports according to which the cease-fire renewed and the talks hostage in Qatar, which started last week after the release of Edan Alexander Israeli-American, had not yet progressed.
The terrorist groups of the Gaza Strip hold 58 hostages, including 57 of the 251 kidnapped by terrorists led by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
They include bodies of at least 35 dead confirmed by the FDI, and 20 are supposed to be alive. There are serious concerns for the well-being of three others, have said Israeli officials.
Hamas released 30 hostages-20 Israeli civilians, five Thai soldiers and five nationals-and the eight bodies killed Israeli captives during a cease-fire between January and March, and an additional hostage, Alexander, in May as a “gesture” in the United States.
The terrorist group released 105 civilians in a truce of a week at the end of November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the first weeks of the war. In exchange, Israel has released some 2,000 imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, security prisoners and suspects of Gazan terrorism detained during the war.
Eight hostages were saved from captivity by living troops, and the bodies of 41 were also recovered, three of whom were mistakenly killed by the Israeli army while they were trying to escape their kidnappers and the body of a soldier killed in 2014.
The body of another soldier killed in 2014, Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, is still held by Hamas and is counted among the 58 hostages.
