Families of Israeli captives protest against Netanyahu: Israeli media
3 Min Read
Israeli media reports that the families of the Israeli captives gathered in 'Tel Aviv' and various parts of 'Israel' to demand the release of the captives in the Gaza Strip.
-
Protesters calling for the release of captives held in Gaza rally outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home in occupied al-Quds, Palestine, November 4, 2023 (Israeli media)
Israeli media confirmed on Saturday that the official in charge of the Hamas captive file, Gal Hirsch, was dismissed when he arrived at a gathering for the families of the prisoners in 'Tel Aviv'.
The Israeli Kan channel said that this evening, the families of Israeli captives gathered in large numbers in various parts of "Israel", raising the slogan “Shame, shame” and demanding the release of the captives in the Gaza Strip.
Part of the ongoing confrontations between Israeli police and Israeli captives' families.#FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/Rtb48kM2fF
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 4, 2023
In turn, the Israeli Channel 12 website reported that violent confrontations took place between relatives of the dead and captured Israelis while protesting in front of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in occupied Al-Quds.
The website stated that some demonstrators broke through the fence and stormed hundreds of meters from Netanyahu's house, and the occupation police summoned a water cannon to disperse the protestors.
BREAKING: THOUSANDS PROTEST AND SIT-IN IN TEL AVIV UNTIL PRISONERS ARE RELEASED
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) November 4, 2023
Israel have killed more prisoners through bombing than Hamas pic.twitter.com/2PaOjvUEPe
A journalist in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Nir Hasson, described this demonstration as the largest since the beginning of the war.
In this context, the Financial Times reported that the Western allies are calling on the Israeli occupation to temporarily stop the aggression and get back the Israeli captives.
'No guarantees'
Likewise, a US administration official stated that the United States is making efforts to negotiate the release of Israeli captives from Gaza, but said: "There are no guarantees its efforts will succeed". That said, no agreement has yet been reached on a humanitarian truce in Gaza, and any ceasefire agreement "depends on the Israelis feeling secure that the events of October 7 will not be repeated."
According to the US official, "Efforts to provide safe passage for the exit of Americans from Gaza were hindered due to Hamas’ efforts to remove its fighters," adding that "any effort to release about 200 detainees requires a major cessation of combat operations."
The New York Times reported that the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) sent dozens of commandos to "Israel" in recent days to help locate the Israeli captives.
In this context, Israeli media reported last Saturday that representatives of the families of Israeli captives in Gaza requested, following their meeting with Netanyahu, an all-for-all deal' i.e. a prisoner exchange deal involving all Palestinian prisoners in exchange for all captives the Resistance is holding.
Read next: Families of Israeli captives fear, anger on the rise amid escalation
Israeli media quoted Mireav Leshem Gonan, the spokesperson for the captive families, as saying, "We asked Netanyahu not to carry out any operation that puts the fate of the captives at risk."
In a statement, the families expressed their “tremendous anger that no one in the war cabins bothered to meet with them” to explain whether the ground incursion “would endanger the safety of the prisoners.”
It is noteworthy that the military spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, estimated that the number of captives held by the Resistance ranged between 200 and 250 captives, or more, revealing that the Al-Qassam Brigades alone had 200 Israeli captives. In turn, the Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, announced that the movement has 30 Israeli captives. At the same time, his deputy, Mohammad al-Hindi, confirmed that most of the captives were soldiers.
