Hundreds of Israelis in Renewed Protests Demanding the Hostages be Released
(AWP) - Israeli protestors have renewed demands for the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intensify efforts to release citizens taken hostage by the Hamas movement in Gaza since the outbreak of the war on October 7.
In Haifa, northern Israel, hundreds gathered and set fire to car tires and wood, while security forces sealed off several roads due to the demonstrations.
Moshe Ya’alon, Israel’s former Defense Minister, gave a speech during the protests in which he said, “204 days, over 1,200 killed, over 2,000 wounded, 133 kidnapped by Hamas and more than 150 people driven away from their homes, and the corrupt government has yet to decide the objectives of the war and the means to end it. Shame!”
Protests were also witnessed in the Mediterranean coastal town of Caesarea, the residence of Netanyahu, and Tel Aviv.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, had on Saturday released a video of two Israeli hostages urging Netanyahu to reach a deal soon to allow them to return home alive.
The hostages said that they are living in “difficult conditions under the bombardment.”
Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, said on Friday that it had received the official Israeli response to the movement’s position, which it had expressed to Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13 regarding a prisoner swap deal.