Date published: 02/11/2024 – 21:52Changed: 02/11/2024 – 21:50

3 minutes

Flag-waving demonstrators in the country’s commercial center held banners reading “Make a deal now,” “Stop the war” and “We won’t let them go,” and beat drums and chanted “Why are they still in Gaza?” They chanted slogans.

“There were countless opportunities to end this crisis, and every single one of them was undermined by the government,” said demonstrator Zahiro Shahar Mor, a 52-year-old bank worker from Tel Aviv.

“The cycle of violence is increasing every week and we cannot see the end,” added Mor, whose uncle Avraham Munder was killed in captivity in Gaza and who is campaigning for the release of loved ones of others.

Critics have questioned why the ceasefire has still not been achieved despite Israel achieving most of its war objectives, including the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last month.

Israeli and US officials, as well as some analysts, say Sinwar is an obstacle to reaching a ceasefire agreement in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Fearing for her cousin currently held in Gaza, prominent anti-government protester Ifat Kalderon blamed Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

“He sabotages every hostage deal they start talking about. He always blamed Sinwar but there is no Sinwar anymore. But he always finds another reason,” the 50-year-old stylist told AFP.

“This is a bloody war, we need to stop it. Enough. So many soldiers are dying. And ordinary citizens too,” he said, referring to civilians on both sides of the conflict who paid the price with their lives.

‘I’m sorry, I’m angry’

The war broke out on October 7, 2023, after Palestinian militants attacked Israel, resulting in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,314 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run region’s health ministry deemed reliable by the United Nations.

In the October 7 attack, Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage; 97 of them are still in Gaza. The Israeli army says 34 of them died.

Some of those attending the rally, organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group, raised the plight of Israeli soldiers who have been exhausted by more than a year of the Gaza war.

Others were hoping for international intervention, including from the United States, which has a presidential election on Tuesday.

Mor, one of the protesters, said, “I hope whoever wins will be adult enough to grab the children in the Middle East by their ears and bring them to the negotiating table.”

He said he was “disappointed, disappointed and angry” that the hostage deal had not been made, but that he “retained hope for the people still alive” in Gaza.

Sinwar’s killing had raised hopes that the release of hostages and detainees could breathe new life into months of inconclusive negotiations for a ceasefire.

The talks were mediated by the USA, Qatar and Egypt.

A Hamas official said Friday that the group received offers from Egypt and Qatar for a short-term ceasefire in Gaza but rejected the offer.

He said the group responded by restating its position that “what the Palestinian people want is a complete, comprehensive and permanent ceasefire.”

Protester Simone Spak Safran said she believed the Israeli government “couldn’t care less” about the hostages.

“Several times no agreement has been reached, and it’s not just because of Hamas. I don’t expect anything from this government,” the 77-year-old from Herzliya told AFP.

© 2024 AFP