Thousands of Israelis demand Gaza hostage release deal

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Tel Aviv to demand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sign a deal to release the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

During the weekly protests against the government of Netanyahu, relatives of hostages and their supporters said the moment to sit down and negotiate a deal was long overdue.

“I want the hostages released. There is a hostage release deal, it has been on the table since October 7th last year. Netanyahu has to sign this deal and then the rest will fall into place. But the hostage release deal which exists has to be signed today,” said one of the protesters, Gal Sne.

One of the earliest proposals for a hostage release deal was put forward on October 12, 2023, five days after the initial Hamas attack.

It called for the release of all women and children held by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in Gaza, in return for freeing all Palestinian women in Israeli prisons, according to Egyptian officials.

The Israelis rejected that proposal.

Hamas released 17 hostages in exchange for 39 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons during a temporary cessation of hostilities in November last year.

Israel and Hamas have signalled resistance to ending the war in Gaza after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the chief architect of the raid on Israel more than a year ago that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped another 250.

Opposing demands

Halting ceasefire talks, mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar, have stumbled along for weeks but Hamas says none of the hostages will be released until the Israeli military completely withdraws from Gaza.

But Israel says it wants a permanent military presence both in the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border and in the Netzarim Corridor, the strip the IDF set up that effectively cuts Gaza in two.

About 100 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza but Israeli authorities estimate at least 30 of them are dead.

The weekly protests, on what has come to be known as Hostages Square, have also taken on a political dimension with many protesters demanding Netanyanhu step down and call fresh elections.

Some accuse him of prioritising his political survival over the lives of the Hamas captives.

“I think a deal could have been reached a long time ago and they keep missing the opportunities. And since I do not trust them, I do not think it is not on purpose. I think they do not do what they should do,” said another protester, Rachel Groweiss.