Hundreds take to the streets in Tel Aviv, ‘stop the war’

(ANSA) – TEL AVIV, 03 NOV – Hundreds of Israeli protesters gathered this evening in Tel Aviv to express their frustration with the government for not having yet reached a truce agreement to bring home the hostages remaining in Gaza. Demonstrators waved flags and held signs with slogans including “Deal now,” “Stop the war” and “We will not abandon them,” and beat drums while shouting, “Why are they still in Gaza?” “There have been countless opportunities to end this crisis and each one has been torpedoed by the government,” said Zahiro Shahar Mor, a 52-year-old bank employee from Tel Aviv. “The cycle of violence is escalating week by week and we see no end,” added Mor, whose uncle Avraham Munder was killed in captivity in Gaza and is campaigning for the release of the other abductees. Ifat Kalderon, a prominent anti-government protester who fears for her cousin still imprisoned in Gaza, blamed Benyamin Netanyahu: “Every hostage deal they start talking about, he sabotages it. He always blamed Sinwar, now Sinwar isn’t there more but every time he finds another reason,” he told AFP. “It’s a bloody war, we have to stop it. Enough. So many soldiers are dying. And ordinary citizens,” he said, referring to civilians on both sides of the conflict who pay with their lives. During the October 7 attack, Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, of which 97 are still in Gaza. The Israeli army says 34 of them have died. (HANDLE).