Stepping up pressure to deal to free hostages in Gaza, protesters in Israel marched through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Sunday, chanting, "we will not give up". The war between Israel and Gaza entered its tenth month on July 7. According to Israel, 116 people remain captive, including 42 the military says are dead.
The demonstrators called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a truce and hostage-release deal, or step down from his post, according to a report by news agency AFP.
The protestors, who began a nationwide “disruption day” at 6:26 AM (local time), blocked roads with thousands stopping traffic along major intersections and a highway in central Tel Aviv.
As per the AFP report, police used water cannons to disperse the crowd that gathered there. Among the protesters, many were related to the hostages. They carried a sense that the government had deserted those still held in Gaza by Palestinian militants Hamas.
"The government doesn't care what the people think, and they don't do anything to bring back our sisters and brothers from Gaza," a demonstrator, Orly Nativ told AFP.
"Enough is enough.", Nativ added.
Many accuse Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, of not doing more to secure a truce as a matter of political survival. Two far-right members of his cabinet have threatened to resign if a deal was struck.
"He knows if he ends the war, his government will fall," Nurit Meiri, 50, a social worker in Jerusalem told AFP.
Meiri's cousin was murdered on October 7 while visiting family, and her son soon starts his mandatory military service.
"For what? A prime minister who will do anything to stay in power?" she asked as protesters behind her chanted "choose life."
Meanwhile, a 27-year-old techie said that the “war was a failure” adding that the only thing it has done was “make the world hate us”.
The protest coincides with renewed momentum in indirect truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas, following months of unsuccessful diplomacy. The Israeli PM has consistently opposed any truce deal that would allow Hamas to retain the ability to govern and fight.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians in Israel, as per AFP. Hamas also took 251 people as hostages, only seven were rescued by Israeli forces alive. Another 105 including 80 Israelis were freed during a week-long truce in November.