JERUSALEM: Israeli police blasted crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests on Sunday as protesters demanding a hostage deal escalated their campaign Sunday with a one-day nationwide strike that blocked roads and closed businesses.
The “day of stoppage” was organized by two groups representing some of the families of hostages and bereaved families, weeks after militant groups released videos of emaciated hostages and Israel announced plans for a new offensive.
Protesters fear further fighting could endanger the hostages who were seized by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 – the attack that triggered the war – and are believed to still be alive in captivity. Israel believes that some 20 are still alive, with Hamas holding the remains of about 30 others.
“We don’t win a war over the bodies of hostages,” protesters chanted.
They gathered at dozens of points throughout Israel, including outside politicians’ homes, military headquarters and on major highways, where they were sprayed with water cannons as they blocked lanes and lit bonfires. Some restaurants and theaters closed in solidarity.
In Tel Aviv, among the protesters was a woman carrying a photo of an emaciated child from Gaza. Such images were once rare at Israeli demonstrations but now appear more often as outrage grows over conditions there.
Police said they had arrested 38 people as part of the nationwide demonstration – one of the fiercest since the uproar over six hostages found dead in Gaza last September.
“Military pressure doesn’t bring hostages back – it only kills them,” former hostage Arbel Yehoud said at a demonstration in Tel Aviv’s hostage square. “The only way to bring them back is through a deal, all at once, without games.”
Netanyahu and allies oppose any deal that leaves Hamas in power
“Today, we stop everything to save and bring back the hostages and soldiers. Today, we stop everything to remember the supreme value of the sanctity of life,” said Anat Angrest, mother of hostage Matan Angrest. “Today, we stop everything to join hands – right, left, center and everything in between.”
Protesters at highway intersections handed out yellow ribbons, the symbol that represents the hostages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which organized the stoppage, said.
Still, an end to the conflict does not appear near. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the immediate release of the hostages but is balancing competing pressures, haunted by the potential for mutiny within his coalition.
“Those who today call for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’s position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will be repeated,” Netanyahu said on Sunday, in an apparent reference to the demonstrations.
The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages, far-right members of his cabinet threatened to topple Netanyahu’s government.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the stoppage “a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas’ hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future.”
