“Now, now, now”: Relatives of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas for six weeks and tens of thousands of supporters have called on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to make a deal for their release. Their protest march now reached Jerusalem.
Tens of thousands of participants in the five-day protest march for the hostages held by the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas have reached Jerusalem. They want to rally in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house. The march began at the beginning of the week in Tel Aviv, around 70 kilometers away.
The demonstrators carried Israeli flags and yellow balloons. Many held signs with pictures of the abductees. They demanded an immediate deal from the government to release the hostages who have been held in the Gaza Strip for six weeks. “Now, now, now,” they chanted over and over again. “Humanitarian aid only in return for the release of all hostages,” read one banner.
frustration over Information policy
Many participants are angry at the government for refusing to tell them more about what is being done to rescue the hostages. A spokesman for the families, Liat Bell Sommer, said two members of Israel’s war cabinet, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, had agreed to meet with them. It is not yet clear whether Netanyahu would also agree to a meeting.
“We expect them to meet with us, we expect them to tell us how they are going to do it,” Noam Alon, holding a photo of his kidnapped girlfriend, told Reuters. “We cannot wait any longer, so we call on them to do this now and pay any price to bring the hostages back.”
Support across the country
The color yellow symbolizes solidarity with the abducted children, women, men and elderly people. Many Israelis have been wearing yellow ribbons on their wrists for weeks and tying them in highly visible places. On the way to Jerusalem, people repeatedly joined the march and took part in rallies.
On October 7, terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other groups kidnapped around 240 hostages into the Gaza Strip in massacres and attacks in the Israeli border area. Four women were later released and one was freed. In addition, the bodies of two Israeli women were recovered by Israeli soldiers in Gaza. It is unclear how many of the other men, women and children are still alive. Hamas, which earlier in the war threatened to execute hostages in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, has since said some of the hostages had been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by the Palestinian and Israeli conflict parties cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas complete the final leg of a five-day “March for the Hostages” in Jerusalem.
Bahrain demands Prisoner exchange
The leadership of the Gulf state of Bahrain called on Israel and Hamas for a prisoner exchange on Friday. Hamas should immediately release the children and women kidnapped from Israel, demanded Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa. He does not believe that any Arab leader has yet asked Hamas to do this. It is therefore time for clear words.
At the same time, the Crown Prince demanded that Israel release female and minor Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. This is necessary to end the conflict and the “intolerable situation” in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, Bahrain’s prime minister strongly condemned the “barbaric” attacks on October 7th and the air strikes on the Gaza Strip, which led to the deaths of thousands.