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Thousands of people demonstrated in several Israeli cities on Saturday evening to press for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a deal to release Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian Hamas movement.
In Tel Aviv, protesters listened to a 30-second audio recording of an Israeli soldier recently found dead in the Gaza Strip, the first time his family had heard signs that he was still alive.
In the recording, the soldier asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to approve an exchange of Hamas prisoners held in Israeli jails for Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.
The demonstration in Tel Aviv was held under the slogan: “We will not abandon them.. We will not surrender.” Many of the demonstrators carried signs demanding “Bring them back home,” while another sign read: “Get them out of hell.”
The protesters are demanding an agreement that would lead to the release of 101 hostages.
Michal Lobanov, the widow of one of the hostages killed two weeks ago, spoke of her shock after the army released a video of living conditions in the tunnel near Rafah where the bodies of the six dead hostages were found.
“They could have been saved through an agreement,” she said.
She made it clear that she did not want sympathy, but rather demanded that “you do everything possible to ensure that the end of other women and hostages is different.”
Netanyahu’s insistence on certain conditions is an obstacle to diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the war and the release of the hostages.
