Families of Israeli hostages protest outside homes of government officials

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Hundreds of Israelis, including relatives of those detained in Gaza, demonstrated Wednesday in front of the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the homes of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister of War Benny Gantz.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the demonstrators protested in front of Netanyahu's residence on Gaza Street in West Jerusalem after he announced the suspension of negotiations for the release of the hostages.

It added that following the protest, Gaza Street was closed to traffic.

“The meaning of the decision (to suspend negotiations) is deliberately sacrificing the lives of all the abducted,” the organizers of the demonstration said in a statement, according to the channel.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that dozens of relatives of the detainees demonstrated at night outside Gallant’s home in the town of Amikam.

They demanded that Gallant take immediate action to release their loved ones, emphasizing that they “are in danger every day, and it is time to release them,” according to the newspaper.

In the city of Rosh Haayin, dozens of Israelis, some of them relatives of detainees, demonstrated in front of the home of Gantz, demanding his resignation.

One of the demonstrators near Gantz's home said: “How does the prime minister not move to release the abducted? Gantz, you are part of this madness,” the newspaper said.

Netanyahu did not allow the negotiating team to return to Egypt on Thursday to continue talks on a hostage deal, Channel 12 reported.

“Netanyahu believes that Hamas must accept the terms set by Israel for making progress,” the broadcaster said.

Officials from Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the US held a meeting in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss a Gaza cease-fire and hostage-prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel.

"Hamas's position has not changed, and it still insists on ending the war, which Israel has not accepted," the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said, citing an unnamed Israeli official.

Last week, Hamas proposed a three-stage plan for a Gaza cease-fire that includes a 135-day pause in the fighting in return for the release of hostages, according to a Palestinian source.

Netanyahu, however, rejected Hamas's offer for a cease-fire and vowed to continue his Gaza war until a “crushing victory” is achieved over the Palestinian group.

Israel believes that 134 Israelis are still being held in Gaza after the Israeli army managed on Monday to free two hostages in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, killing at least 28,576 people and injuring 68,291 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala