Relatives of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip demonstrated outside the private home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to demand a deal that will bring them home.
“Do you know where your son slept last night?” Shelly Shem-Tov, whose 21-year-old son Omer is among the hostages, pleaded with the crowd outside Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, the Times of Israel reported.
“Can you call your son right now and ask him how he is? “I don’t know where my son is for 105 days,” the desperate mother shouted.
Shem-Tov and relatives of other hostages camped overnight outside Netanyahu’s home to demand that the government take bolder steps to secure the release of the more than 100 people held captive since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7. against southern Israel.
The Israeli government had previously said that there are still more than 130 hostages in Gaza following temporary ceasefire exchanges in November, but that only about 100 are believed to be alive.
Relatives and friends of the hostages sit on a street in front of the private residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. AP Eli Shtivi, father of hostage Idan Shtivi, began a hunger strike in front of Netanyahu’s house on Friday. REUTERS
On Friday, Eli Shtivi – whose son, Idan, was kidnapped at the Nova music festival – went on a hunger strike outside the prime minister’s house.
The distraught father promised to eat only a quarter of a pita a day (the same amount of food the hostages reportedly receive on certain days) until Netanyahu agreed to meet with him.
Many of those attending the demonstration carried Israeli flags and signs with the faces of their loved ones.
There was also a display of empty seats to represent those detained in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will permanently eliminate Hamas. REUTERS
“We are here to demand some action from Netanyahu,” said Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Haimi was killed on October 7. a video published on X by journalist Yardena Schwartz.
“We know that there are agreements on the table. We know that it is not achieving anything in terms of bringing [the hostages] at home because he refuses to sign an agreement. And we demand action,” he insisted.
“We are losing hostages every day,” Goren added. “They must return home before they are all in coffins again.”
Families of Israeli hostages (living and dead) are staging an all-night protest in front of Netanyahu’s home, calling on him to accept a hostage deal. More recently, hostages have only returned in body bags and Bibi continues to reject agreements on the table. pic.twitter.com/LuxUoayP7h
—Yardena Schwartz (@yardenas) January 20, 2024
The empty chairs represented those still held in the Gaza Strip. REUTERS
In recent months, Netanyahu, 74, has repeatedly vowed to continue the war until Hamas is definitively defeated and the hostages returned, although he has been vague about how exactly Israel will achieve these goals.
The emotional weekend protest also came just a couple of days after former Israeli army chief Gadi Eisenkot denounced Netanyahu’s insistence that the country’s counteroffensive in Gaza would bring the hostages home.
“[The hostages] He will only return alive if there is an agreement, linked to a significant pause in the fighting,” Eisenkot, whose son was killed while fighting in Gaza in December, said during a television interview on Thursday.
The hostages’ families camped overnight. AP
As part of its official effort to free the hostages, the Israeli military dropped leaflets on Saturday in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The fliers featured photographs of the dozens of hostages, as well as messages promising benefits to anyone who revealed their location.
“Do you want to come home? Please report if you identified one of them,” the printout read, along with a phone number and a link to a website with more names and images.
An Israeli protester places signs on a vehicle. REUTERS
Al-Madj al-Amni, a Hamas-linked media outlet, later warned Palestinians not to provide information to Israeli forces.
With post cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn