Israeli protesters demand hostage swap deal, early elections

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - Demonstrations were held Saturday in several cities in Israel to demand a hostage swap deal with Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip and early elections, according to media reports.

Thousands protested across the nation, including in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Caesarea to insist on a deal that would lead to the release of hostages in Gaza, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

In Tel Aviv, demonstrators held banners accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “not caring about the lives of hostages held in Gaza.”

At the Horev Junction in Haifa, hundreds demonstrated with a banner that read: “No forgiveness for negligence,” said the newspaper.

Israel estimates around 120 Israelis are held by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, in Gaza.

For months, efforts by the US, Qatar and Egypt to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas on a hostage exchange and cease-fire have been hampered by Netanyahu's rejection of a demand to halt hostilities by Hamas.

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.

More than 38,900 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 89,600 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 Rania Abu Shamala