Tel Aviv Protests Demand War End, Hostage Release
(AWP) - Hundreds of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza Strip and a prisoner swap deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
The protesters said they would never stop calling for an end to the war that started on October 7 after a surprise attack by Hamas Movement and other Palestinian factions on Israeli towns and settlements off Gaza.
Israel responded with non-stop raids on the enclave, leaving thousands of Palestinians killed or wounded and the infrastructure wrecked.
The protesters raised placards supporting a deal under the slogan “all for all” in order to swap Israelis taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza for the Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.
Arab political parties have participated in the demonstration organized by the left-wing Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) and saw protesters raising placards reading ‘No Winner in War,’ ‘Ceasefire Now,’ and ‘No for Prosecution of Anti-War Activists.’
Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the National Democratic Alliance Party “Balad,” said, “We are here now in this place which has a symbolic dimension. We are standing on the debris of al-Manshiyeh neighborhood, the northern district of the very close city of Jaffa.”
“From this neighborhood, the locals have been expelled during the year of the Nakba (Catastrophe). They are those persons who exist today under fire in Gaza. From this neighborhood, we – Palestinians and Israelis – came today to send a clear message demanding an end to the war, the killing and the bloodshed and also a deal for prisoner exchange – all for all,” he stressed.
The Israeli police had rejected the demonstration but reversed its decision after Hadash filed a petition to the Supreme Court, which allowed it on condition not more than 700 persons join it and to be not more than two hours.
Speakers in the demonstration condemned the continued war and demanded bringing civilians out of the cycle of blood and the recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
Dozens of pro-war activists also staged a demonstration on the other side with a few scuffles with the anti-war activists before Israeli police intervened to control the situation.