Thousands of Israelis demonstrated last night in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to continue the pressure on the government to release the hostages held in the Gaza Strip, reported France Press, quoted by BTA.
According to the organizers, the number of demonstrators in the weekly rallies increased after the announcement by the Israeli authorities in early September that six hostages had been shot dead by the Islamist movement “Hamas” in the southern part of the Palestinian territory.
One of the six hostages was Alexander Lobanov, whose wife addressed the crowd in Tel Aviv last night and asked why Benjamin Netanyahu's government had not done “everything“ to bring him back alive.
„It was possible to save them (...) through an agreement,” she said, according to excerpts of her speech provided by the Hostage Families Forum. The organization represents the majority of the families of the hostages taken to the Gaza Strip on the day of the “Hamas” on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023
Netanyahu's government is facing growing angry accusations that it is not doing enough to secure a truce deal between Israel and “Hamas” that would include a hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners serving sentences in Israeli jails.
The hostages were taken during the October 7 attack, which left 1,205 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, which also included hostages killed in captivity.
Of the 251 abducted, 97 are still being held in the Gaza Strip, with 33 of them declared dead by the Israeli army.
Israel's military campaign of revenge in the Gaza Strip has claimed at least 41,182 lives, according to the Health Ministry of the “Hamas“ government. for Gaza, which did not specify how many of those killed were fighters and how many – civilians.
„This is an unprecedented emergency. It's not just about the hostages, it's about everything," 48-year-old Noah Ben Baruch, an organizer of the protest, told AFP in Tel Aviv. “This war (...) is pointless, it no longer serves any purpose.“
Demonstrators waved Israeli flags and slogans reading “Bring them home”, “Make a deal” and “Stop the bloodshed”.
In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, speakers read the names of all those kidnapped on October 7.