Israel: Massive Protest to Demand Release of Hostages

Amid the resumption of negotiations with Hamas to reach an agreement on the truce, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Sunday faced the largest protest since its inauguration with more than 100,000 demonstrators demanding the immediate release of the hostages. The outbreak of the war led the Israeli citizenry into a partially forced union, which did not last long due to the inefficiency of the government’s measures. Since then, there has been only a one-week truce that allowed the release of 110 hostages, and in the midst of the new negotiation to reach an agreement, thousands of demonstrators mobilized to the parliament in Jerusalem to demand immediate action. In rejection of the policies pursued by the prime minister, the protest participants called for early elections, just six months after the start of the war, and called on the government to act to secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza. Accompanying the anti-government demonstrators for the first time appeared the relatives of the prisoners, fed up with the endless wait. Waving Israeli flags, a group of demonstrators clashed with police who tried to contain the protest, which was joined in other areas by dozens of soldiers in the army reserve, who called for the recruitment of yeshiva (Talmudic schools) students.

Original source in Spanish