On Saturday, hundreds of protesters blocked the Ayalon Highway in the centre of Tel Aviv, demanding an agreement with Hamas on a hostage exchange and early elections.
During the demonstration, the protesters demanded an agreement with Hamas on a hostage exchange and early elections, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority said.
Protesters lit bonfires and held placards demanding an immediate deal on a hostage exchange, the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and early elections. Almost daily protests in the Israeli capital and other cities, including in Jerusalem, Rehovot, Ra’anana and Haifa, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.
Police prevented a demonstration outside the defence ministry building in the Kirya area of central Tel Aviv and arrested demonstrators, while others were arrested on riot charges for their involvement in blocking the Ayalon highway.
Israel holds over 125 hostages in Gaza, while at least 8,800 Palestinians are held in its prisons, according to official sources on both sides. Qatar, Egypt, the US are mediating between the sides to reach a new agreement on a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden said that Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the war in Gaza was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in an interview aired Saturday.
There is also particular tension over a potential Israeli incursion into Rafah, where some 1.5 million of the territory’s 2.4 million residents are now crowded: “It is a red line,” the 81-year-old Democrat said, adding that “You cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.”
Netanyahu “has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas,” Biden highlighted, but immediately added that “he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.”
Israel launched the counter-offensive in response to a 7 October attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people.
The counter-offensive caused the deaths of nearly 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 72,500 amid widespread destruction and a shortage of basic necessities. 85 percent of Gaza’s population was displaced and 60 percent of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed.
Israel was earlier indicted in the UN International Court of Justice, which orders Tel Aviv to stop acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee humanitarian aid to the civilian population of Gaza.
