NYN | News
Hundreds of Israelis protested in several cities in the occupied territories, demanding the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal with Palestinian factions and calling for early elections. Meanwhile, families of Israeli prisoners in Gaza accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of “abandoning their sons and letting them die.”
The Israeli newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” reported that the police suppressed protesters in Tel Aviv and arrested several, including some relatives of prisoners in Gaza.
Hundreds also protested in the cities of Haifa (north), Rahobot, and Ness Ziona (central), demanding an urgent deal to release prisoners held in Gaza.
Protesters held banners accusing the prime minister of neglecting the prisoners and called for his immediate resignation and the organization of early elections.
The newspaper noted that the police suppressed protesters in Tel Aviv and arrested several, including some relatives of prisoners.
Meanwhile, the families of prisoners stated that Netanyahu not only fails to secure a prisoner exchange deal but also fails the state of Israel.
One relative of the detainees said during a press conference in Tel Aviv, “The government has abandoned our sons and left them to die, after deciding to enter Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, putting their lives in danger.”
She added, “As long as Netanyahu is in power, the detainees will not return because he does not want them in the country.”
Another relative of a prisoner said during the conference, “The ministers in the Security Cabinet, Yoav Galant, Benny Gantz, and Gadi Eisenkot, allow Netanyahu to undermine the deals, and they are complicit in the neglect.”
A third said, “Netanyahu is leading us to complete failure; there is no clear strategy for the war so far. If we want to save the detainees, we must first save Israel from Netanyahu.”
In the same context, opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Israel urgently needs to hold elections.
In related news, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that families of 600 soldiers sent a message to army leaders opposing an incursion into Rafah.
The soldiers’ families confirmed in their message that they do not trust the army leadership and will not stand idly by while their sons are in danger.
Moreover, according to Maariv newspaper, mothers of some soldiers who returned to fight in Jabalia and Beit Hanoun expressed increasing frustration among their enlisted sons, who do not trust the leadership and feel they are being used in a political game.
One mother told the Israeli newspaper that their enlisted sons feel extreme anger towards the leadership, which did not use their immense sacrifices to recover the prisoners.
The soldiers’ mothers accused the leadership of procrastination in making decisions for political reasons, which enables Hamas to recover and leads to more soldiers being killed and wounded in the same areas, according to their expressions.
Maariv, citing Israeli military sources, also noted that the absence of a political move accompanying the fighting makes it difficult to benefit from the military achievements of the war.
The same sources pointed to the increasing criticism of the Israeli army towards the political leadership for not making a decision about what they call “the day after” in Gaza.
Recently, Israeli families have intensified their protests to pressure the government to reach an agreement with Hamas, especially as Hamas announced its acceptance of the mediators’ proposal for a prisoner exchange and ceasefire in stages, while Israel remains reserved about the proposal.
Last Monday, the Israeli occupation army launched an operation east of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza despite international warnings. Meanwhile, this morning called for the immediate evacuation of residents of neighborhoods in the heart of this city to expand the operation.
Through Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel have been conducting stalled indirect negotiations for months to reach an agreement to exchange prisoners and stop the war on Gaza, which erupted on October 7, 2023.
The ongoing devastating war in the besieged Gaza Strip has claimed about 113,000 martyrs and wounded, mostly children and women, leading to Israel’s trial before the International Criminal Court on charges of “genocide.”
Source: Al Jazeera
