Thousands protest in central Tel Aviv for ceasefire
Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in central Tel Aviv to call on the Israeli government to do more to secure the release of captives held in Gaza for 11 months.
Mass protests have been revived in the past two weeks after the bodies of six Israelis were recovered from Gaza. Families of the abductees have expressed frustration at the government’s failed negotiations to bring them home.
Last week, an estimated 750,000 Israelis took to the streets in one of Israel’s biggest ever protests as they demanded Netanyahu’s government strike a deal with Hamas.
‘This war has to end yesterday – it’s futile’
One of the six captives killed in Gaza this month was Alexander Lobanov. His wife Michal addressed a large crowd in Tel Aviv and asked why the government didn’t “do everything” to bring him back alive.
“It was possible to save them, to rescue them through a deal,” she said, according to excerpts of her remarks provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group. “True, it’s not as heroic as a military rescue, but it’s a different kind of bravery.”
As the war rages on for more than 11 months with no end in sight, “there is no point to it anymore”, demonstration organiser Noa Ben Baruch said. “This war has to end yesterday. It’s futile.”
Around her members of the crowd waved Israeli flags and signs reading, “Bring them home”, “Seal the deal”, “End the bloodshed,” and “They trust us to get them out of hell.”
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis again on the streets
Hundreds of thousands are on the streets of Tel Aviv and elsewhere throughout the country. It comes just a week after the largest demonstration in Israel’s history – half a million people in Tel Aviv and 250,000 others elsewhere throughout the country, calling for a deal to bring back the remaining Israeli captives.
They’re blaming the government. They’re blaming Netanyahu, specifically, saying he’s neither capable nor willing to secure a deal, and that too much time has gone by without a deal. We are now in the 12th month of this war and there are still nearly 100 captives being held in Gaza.
It’s worth mentioning that Netanyahu has said – in the face of any sort of pressure, whether that’s domestic or international – that he’ll continue to prosecute the war however he sees fit, until “all of the goals” are achieved. He has repeatedly said that military pressure is the only way to ensure the release of the captives.
But family members of captives speaking tonight in Tel Aviv said military pressure has only killed the captives and not brought about their release. As time goes by, nearly a year later, there aren’t going to be that many captives left to save, and that’s according to Israel’s army chief.
