Finance
Thousands of people in Israel have once taken to the streets, calling for fresh elections and the immediate release of all hostages detained in Gaza.
People yelled loudly during a large-scale gathering in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, demanding fresh elections and the prompt release of all those kidnapped from Israel in the Palestinian coastal region.
“The one who abandoned them must bring them home,” chanted the crowd, alluding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom many Israelis accuse of colossal failure in the face of the Hamas massacre on October 7.
Relatives of the abductees accuse the Israeli government of having no serious interest in reaching an agreement with the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas.
Israel and Hamas have been negotiating indirectly for months about a ceasefire and the release of further hostages who were abducted on October 7. There is currently no breakthrough in sight.
Thousands protested in the coastal cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa on Saturday evening, and hundreds in the city of Beersheva. More than a thousand people also reportedly gathered in Caesarea near a private villa belonging to Netanyahu. There were also rallies in other Israeli cities.
Israel had believed that less than 100 of the 130 hostages were still alive until a few weeks ago. It’s now thought, though, that a great number of them might be dead.
