The families of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip set up a protest camp on Friday night in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's second residence, in the city of Caesarea, where the politician usually spends his weekends. “The families are fed up, we are asking for an agreement now,” said the Forum for Families of Hostages and Disappeared Persons, after the level of protests increased in recent days to press for the release of the 136 people still held captive in Gaza, of whom few more than 100 would be alive. Dozens of people, many of them family members and friends of the hostages, began the mobilization, setting up tents in front of Netanyahu's residence, where they spent the night and continued the protest this Saturday.
In recent weeks, distrust has grown in the government and its promise that the release of the hostages is a priority, something that is viewed with increasing skepticism as Hamas announces the deaths of more people in captivity in Gaza, and as Netanyahu assures that only the path of military pressure could lead to his release. “The time for murder is over. The War Cabinet must not miss any opportunity to reach an agreement that brings everyone home,” warned the Forum for the Families of Hostages and Disappeared Persons. According to the organization, protesters will continue in front of Netanyahu's residence until he comes out to listen to them and “commits to leading an international summit with the participation of all countries involved in the crisis, until it is resolved and all hostages be returned home.”
In the terrorist attack on Israel committed by Hamas on October 7, in which around 1,200 people died on Israeli soil, Palestinian militias also took around 240 people to Gaza. Of these, 105 were released during the last week of November as part of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Hamas, in turn, insists that the remaining hostages will be released when the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons are freed and Israel ends the attacks on Gaza, which left almost 25,000 dead in the enclave, according to information from the local government, linked to the Hamas.
Gadi Eisenkot, former chief of staff of the Army, emergency government minister and member of the Israeli War Cabinet, assured in an interview that the hostages in Gaza would only be saved with an agreement, contradicting Netanyahu and guaranteeing that Israel was far from achieve its military objectives against Hamas. Criticism in Israel of Netanyahu's management of the war is also increasing as the invasion drags on with no end in sight, and as Israeli soldiers die on the battlefield – nearly 200 troops have been killed since the ground invasion began. , on October 27th. Faced with this situation, Eisenkot also called this week for elections to restore the population's trust in institutions, which he believes has now been broken.
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