Hundreds of protesters in Tel Aviv, Israel, voiced their frustration with the government Saturday for failing to secure a truce to bring the remaining hostages in Gaza home.
Flag-waving demonstrators in the country’s commercial hub held placards with slogans including “Deal now,” “Stop the war” and “We won’t abandon them,” and beat drums and chanted “Why are they still in Gaza?”
“There have been countless opportunities to end this crisis, and each one was torpedoed by the government,” said demonstrator Zahiro Shahar Mor, a 52-year-old bank employee from Tel Aviv.
“The cycle of violence is escalating week after week and we see no end,” said Mor, whose uncle Avraham Munder was killed in captivity in Gaza, and who is campaigning for the release of others’ loved ones.
Critics have questioned why a truce has still not materialized now that Israel has achieved many of its war aims, including last month’s killing of Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar.
Israeli and U.S. officials as well as some analysts have said Sinwar was an obstacle to reaching a truce in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Ifat Kalderon, a prominent antigovernment protester afraid for her cousin still held in Gaza, blamed Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.
“Each hostage deal they start to talk about, he sabotages. He always blamed Sinwar, but now there is no Sinwar. But every time he finds another reason,” the 50-year-old stylist told AFP.
“It’s a bloody war, we need to stop it. Enough. So many soldiers are dying. And ordinary citizens,” she said, referring to civilians from both sides of the conflict paying with their lives.
Some at the rally — organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group — brought up the plight of Israel’s soldiers, who are exhausted more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Others hoped for international intervention, including from the United States, which holds a presidential election Tuesday.
“I hope whoever wins will be adult enough to take the kids in the Middle East by the ear and force them to the negotiating table,” said protester Mor.
He said he was “disappointed, frustrated and angry” at the lack of a hostage deal but was “keeping the hope for the people who are still alive” in Gaza.
Sinwar’s killing had spurred hope that fresh life could be breathed into months of fruitless negotiations for a truce with hostage and prisoner releases.
The talks have been mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
