Several thousand people demonstrated yesterday Saturday in Tel Aviv to demand above all that an agreement be reached for the release of the Hamas hostages who have remained in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
There was no lack of fierce criticism against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demands to call early elections.
“Negotiate now, quit later,” one read on banners and placards.
Tel Aviv protest tonight:
-End the war
– Hostage release
-No to Rafah invasion.
– The government must fall.— Etan Nechin (@Etanetan23) May 4, 2024
A hostage father has criticized the fact that the government seems to consider its own survival more important than that of his child, demanding a cease-fire agreement with Hamas.
But the Israeli government won’t even send a delegation to Cairo yet, Israeli state broadcaster Kan reported. It will not be sent before Hamas responds to the latest proposal, provided it says yes, a government source at the network explained.
Mr. Netanyahu is “once again trying to torpedo the only chance we have to save the hostages,” a collective of hostages’ relatives charged in a press release.
A hostage’s brother said that if a large-scale Israeli army ground operation begins in Rafah, it will be a “death sentence” for the hostages.
The Israeli prime minister cannot remain in office “with the blood of 132 hostages on his hands,” he ruled.
Violent protests against Netanyahu in Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/UQdqirvHtl
— S p r i n t e r F a c t o r y (@Sprinterfactory) May 5, 2024
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the government should send a team of negotiators to Cairo immediately, with orders “not to return without a deal”.
The demonstration took place two days before Holocaust Remembrance Day (tomorrow, Monday May 6 this year) and three before the war in the Gaza Strip closes seven months (the day after tomorrow, Tuesday).
Now in Tel Aviv: Tens of thousands protest for a hostage deal and against invasion to Rafah pic.twitter.com/K6BUpBb0bv
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) May 4, 2024
“They must all return”, alive and dead, not “abandon them, as the Jews were abandoned in the Holocaust”, commented Hanna Cohen, aunt of 27-year-old Inbar Hyman, one of the hostages who has been confirmed dead. Her body is believed to still be in the Gaza Strip.
At the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu is facing increasing pressure from far-right parties in the ruling coalition to proceed with the invasion of Rafah.
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