Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv to ask for the end of the war in Gaza and the release of hostages, one of the largest demonstrations in Israel since the start of the fighting in October 2023.
The gathering of Sunday evening was the culmination of a day of national demonstrations and a general strike to put pressure on the government to stop the military campaign. “Bring them all at home!” Stop war! ” Cried the vast crowd, which had converged on the so -called Square of hostages to Tel Aviv Plaza – a focal point for demonstrators throughout the war.
The family forum hostage and disappeared, the initiator of the day of the protest, said that around 500,000 people joined the demonstration in Tel Aviv – a figure not confirmed by the police. “We demand a complete and achievable agreement and the end of the war,” said Einav Zangauker, mother of the Matan hostage and a main figure in the protest movement.
“We demand what is rightly us – our children. The Israeli government has turned a war just into a useless war. ”
National Media published a video message from Matan Zangauker on Sunday, in which the hostage, weak and emaciated, addressed his family and told them that they had missed them. The video was filmed by Hamas and found in Gaza by the army, the family said.
“It is probably the last minute that we have to save the hostages,” the Demonstrator of Penso, 50, told AFP.
The demonstrations come more than a week after the Israel security firm approved the plans to capture Gaza City, 22 months after a war that created a disastrous humanitarian crisis in Palestinian territory.
The campaign group of hostages and missing families promised on Sunday that the demonstrators “would close the country” in order to bring the hostages back and put an end to the war.
Throughout Israel, demonstrators blocked the roads, launched tires and faced the police. More than 30 demonstrators have been arrested, the police said.
Netanyahu criticized the demonstrators, claiming that their actions “not only tightened the position of Hamas and draw the release of our hostages, but also ensure that the horrors of October 7 will reproduce”.
Egypt has said that in recent days, mediators are led to a renewed push to conclude a 60 -day truce agreement which includes hostages during exit, after the end of the last round of talks in Qatar without breakthrough.
Some members of the Israeli government oppose any agreement with Hamas have criticized Sunday demonstrations. The Minister of Finance of Israel, Bezalel Smotrich, has criticized a “perverse and harmful campaign that plays in the hands of Hamas” and calls for “going”.
However, Benny Gantz, an opposition chief, condemned the government to “attack the hostage families” while “being responsible for the captivity of their children by Hamas for almost two years”.
The military offensive of Israel killed at least 61,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, most civilians. The figure does not include the thousands of people who are buried under rubble or the thousands killed indirectly due to the war.
