The march of relatives and friends of the approximately 240 hostages held by Hamas started with a few hundred people in Tel Aviv, but when it reached Jerusalem it numbered about 20,000 people. “The journey is not over yet, 43 days is a long time. We will continue as much as we can until every one of them is home,” said one of the family members who started the march, Yuval Haran, as quoted by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. .
The march aimed to put pressure on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ended in front of his cabinet. The families feel ignored and are demanding that the government do more to release the hostages, who were taken to the Gaza Strip on the day of the terrorist group’s operation, which Israeli authorities say killed around 1,200 people.
The Prime Minister’s Office announced on Saturday that Netanyahu will convene the War Cabinet and meet with representatives of the family in the coming days. “We hope they meet us, that they tell us how they are going to bring them home,” Noam Alon, whose girlfriend was among those kidnapped, told Reuters. “We can’t wait any longer, so we ask them to pay the price to bring back the hostages.”
It is not certain how many hostages are still alive – only four were released and one rescued – with Hamas saying several were killed in Israeli bombings. On the 5th, the terrorist group said that 60 people had already been killed. The bodies of two hostages were recovered. This Saturday, Hamas indicated that “contact with some squadrons tasked with protecting the hostages had been interrupted.”
The two sides are reportedly negotiating the release of some of the abductees, with the support of Qatar and Egypt. But so far no agreement has been reached. According to several media outlets, the negotiations are taking place around a three-day lull in the fighting, in addition to the release of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.
Situation in Gaza
Pending the final agreement, the war will not stop in the Gaza Strip. The Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamasyesterday denounced the deaths of more than 80 people in two Israeli bomb attacks on a United Nations-run refugee camp in Jabalia. One of the attacks hit al-Fakhoura school, which welcomed many refugees.
At the same time, hundreds of people left Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in the Palestinian enclave, on foot after reportedly being ordered to do so by the Israeli army. However, he denied ordering the evacuation of the space, which he has controlled since the beginning of the week and under which he claims a Hamas command post is hidden.
Source: DN
