Thousands of Israelis protest Netanyahu government, demand prisoner swap with Palestinian factions

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - Thousands of Israelis protested Saturday in Tel Aviv, Caesarea and Jerusalem, demanding a hostage swap deal with Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, according to media reports.

“Dozens of thousands of Israelis protested in the Kidnapped Soldiers' Square in central Tel Aviv, demanding an immediate hostage swap deal and the dismissal of Benjamin Netanyahu's government through early elections,” the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.

It said the demonstration was the largest in Tel Aviv since Oct. 7.

Thousands protested at Paris Square in Jerusalem’s city center to also demand a hostage deal, according to Israeli Channel 12.

Israelis also protested in downtown Caesarea, according to Yedioth Ahronoth, where they marched to Netanyahu's residence and called for his "immediate" resignation.

Knesset member Gilad Kariv participated in that demonstration.

Protesters chanted against Netanyahu and the government, holding them "responsible" for the deaths of dozens of hostages in Gaza.

Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who left the now-dissolved War Cabinet, also participated in demonstrations in the "Kiryat Gat" settlement in the Negev, where protesters demanded a hostage swap deal.

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 the Palestine resistance group, Hamas.

More than 37,500 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, 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 Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in 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