A major road in Tel Aviv was blocked Wednesday night by dozens of Israelis, including activists and hostage families, who were protesting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to come to an early agreement with Hamas to free hostages in Gaza.
The demonstrators blamed Netanyahu for the lack of an agreement with the Palestinian organization.
“Our loved ones are enduring a living nightmare in Hamas captivity because Netanyahu is deciding to abandon them there”, the Israeli prisoner families said in a statement denouncing Netanyahu.
They continued, “Netanyahu keeps undermining the negotiations to end the war with a comprehensive agreement that would bring all prisoners home”.
The press release stated, “On the last candle of Hanukkah, we don’t need miracles to bring them back, but real actions from our leadership”.
Hamas has stated time and time again for over a year that it is open to negotiating a prisoner exchange agreement, even accepting a proposal made by US President Joe Biden in May 2024.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, however, eventually changed his mind about the plan and added other requirements, such as the Israeli military’s refusal to withdraw and the continuing of its operations in Gaza. Hamas demands that the war end immediately and that Israeli forces leave the area entirely.
Netanyahu is accused by the hostage families and Israeli opposition leaders of blocking the agreement in order to keep his political job. Extremist officials have vowed to overthrow the government if a cease-fire is reached, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, the Israeli army has persisted in its murderous war on Gaza, which has claimed the lives of nearly 45,550 people since a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, the majority of them were women and children.
