Israeli protesters block highway in Tel Aviv demanding prisoner swap with Palestinians

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli protesters on Tuesday blocked a main highway in Tel Aviv demanding a prisoner swap and a cease-fire in Gaza.

The Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported the protesters, including relatives of Israeli captives in Gaza, blocked the Ayalon Highway and raised photos of the Israeli captives in Gaza.

The Israeli Haaretz daily reported the protest was led by the families of the captives, adding police later intervened and reopened the highway.

It quoted one of the protesters as saying that they won't allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the prisoner swap talks out of its course under different justifications.

The Israeli authorities estimate that around 120 Israelis are held in Gaza of which Hamas said dozens were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

In recent weeks, Israeli protesters and captives' families stepped up their actions demanding a prisoner swap and a cease-fire in Gaza.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt have been hampered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of Hamas' call to halt hostilities.

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

Nearly 38,700 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 89,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

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

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar​​​​​​​​​​​​​​