Thousands in Israel turn out to demand hostage deal

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities for an agreement to release around 100 hostages held by Palestinian Islamist Hamas on Saturday.

“We must not sacrifice any more lives; we must not sacrifice them [the remaining hostages],” said a relative of a hostage who died last week, at the Tel Aviv rally.

Carmel Gat, another woman and four men were shot at close range last week, according to Israel’s Health Ministry, after Israeli soldiers found their bodies last Sunday in a tunnel in Gaza.

“The six would be here with us today if [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said yes to a deal,” Gat’s relative called out to the crowd, sorrow and anger in her voice.

On Oct. 7 last year, militants from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organisations invaded southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking some 250 others as hostages into Gaza, an unprecedented massacre that triggered the Gaza war.

According to Israel, Hamas is still holding 101 people, although it is unclear how many of them are still alive.

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Indirect negotiations for their release, mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar, have been stalled for months.

Negotiators seek to bring about a deal that also ends the war, and includesthe withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Critics accuse Netanyahu of obstructing the conclusion of an agreement by making excessive demands such as to permanently station the Israeli military at strategic points in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu heads a coalition with far-right parties who oppose any concessions to Hamas and threaten otherwise to withdraw which would lead to a collapse of the government alliance.

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There were further demonstrations in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba, Nahariya, and Caesarea, according to media reports.