Hundreds of Israelis rally for hostages, marking six months of conflict By Reuters

By Dedi Hayun

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hundreds of protesters rallied in Jerusalem on Sunday demanding the discharge of round 130 hostages nonetheless held in Gaza after six months of Israel’s conflict towards Hamas.

Hamas gunmen burst into Israel on Oct. 7, killed 1,200 individuals of their houses, on military bases, alongside roads and at an out of doors rave and inflicting sexual violence on a few of their victims, in response to a U.N. workforce of specialists.

The gunmen additionally seized 253 hostages, together with youngsters and aged, civilians and troopers. Round half of them had been launched as a part of a short truce deal in late November.

Talks to safe one other ceasefire that would come with the discharge of dozens extra of the remaining hostages, resumed in Egypt on Sunday.

However some hostage households are cautious, with earlier rounds of negotiations having gone nowhere and among the hostages dying in captivity.

“Their households and everyone right here has had sufficient. And folks want to grasp that and the world wants to face up and get them again,” mentioned Michal Nachshon, 39, who made her approach from Tel Aviv to the protest exterior Israel’s parliament

“It is above politics. It is above faith, it is a humanitarian difficulty and that is what we’re right here to shout as we speak,” she added.

Whereas some hostage dad and mom at Sunday’s rally known as on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do extra to carry house the hostages, audio system largely stored messages apolitical, specializing in their ache and the pressing have to get their family members house.

However over the previous few weeks, protests towards Netanyahu’s authorities have intensified with some critics charging that the veteran chief has been dragging his toes in securing a deal – an accusation he strongly denies.

Netanyahu’s cupboard has confronted widespread criticism over the safety failure of Oct. 7 – Israel’s deadliest single day and the worst assault on Jews because the Holocaust.

Some rallies demanding an election be held have been organised by protest teams that led the mass demonstrations which rocked Israel in 2023. Successive opinion polls since Oct. 7 have proven Netanyahu could be defeated by centrists.