Protesters blocked Highway 1 to Jerusalem, accusing the government of sabotaging the deal to bring all hostages home. The placard reads: “Refusal to give up hostages. War crime!” Photo: Udi Salmanovich
On Tuesday morning, hundreds of protesters, including relatives of Israeli hostages, demonstrated outside the Knesset building in Jer usalem, demanding that the government continue negotiations for their release, The Jerusalem Post reports.
The day before, activists had also temporarily blocked the No. 1 motorway on the way to the capital, protesting against the suspension of the negotiation process. Later, traffic on the highway was restored.
Demonstrators called on the Israeli government to immediately send a delegation to Doha with a mandate to implement the second phase of the agreement, especially as Hamas announced that it would indefinitely postpone the release of hostages.
“This is a demand to the Prime Minister to stop sabotaging the agreement,” the hostages’ families said in an official statement.
“Netanyahu proposed a deal that stretched for months. Today, it is clear that he is acting for political reasons and is doing everything he can to derail it. According to the latest reports, our relatives are living through the Holocaust in captivity. They will not survive there for much longer.”
Forum of hostage families: “There is no more time”
The Hostage Families Forum stated that the United States and President Joe Biden have clearly stressed the only moral and humane goal is to release all hostages without exception.
“The latest evidence of the conditions of detention of our relatives makes one thing clear: there is no more time. There will be no other opportunities to save them. The photographs of the released hostages last Saturday painfully and unequivocally proved that the window of opportunity is closing. All parties involved in the negotiations are obliged to do everything possible to return all of them – alive or for a decent burial.”
Hamas suspends release of hostages
The protest took place after Hamas announced the night before that it had cancelled the release of hostages scheduled for 15 February, accusing Israel of allegedly “violating the agreement”.
After that, on Tuesday night, protesters gathered outside the military headquarters of Kiryat Yisrael in Tel Aviv, where they lit bonfires and shouted slogans demanding more action from the government.
The closure of Highway 1 also came amid the tragic news of the death of Shlomo Mantzur, the oldest Israeli hostage held in Gaza. His death was confirmed by Kibbutz Kissufim.
