Israeli police disperse protesters demanding hostage swap with Hamas

By Anadolu staff

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli police dispersed protesters in west Jerusalem on Tuesday demanding a hostage swap deal with Hamas.

Protesters blocked a road at the Givat Mordechai Interchange by placing ladders in the middle of the road and displayed signs calling for the release of Israelis held captive by Hamas, Israeli Channel 12 reported.

“Elections now” chanted the protesters in the latest pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down.

Thousands of Israelis demonstrated near the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) late Monday to demand early elections and a prisoner swap with Hamas.

Hamas, which is believed to be holding more than 120 Israeli hostages, demands an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip in return for any hostage swap with Tel Aviv.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

More than 37,350 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 85,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.