Protesters block Netanyahu's office, demand ceasefire in Gaza

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
Today 04:31
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Relatives of Israeli captives staged protests across several areas of the Knesset, demanding that Netanyahu’s government implement a ceasefire in Gaza, similar to the one agreed upon with Lebanon.

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Relatives of Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip block rooms in the Israeli Knesset, demanding a ceasefire with the Palestinian Resistance, which would secure the release of captives, on November 28, 2024. (Social media)

Family members of Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip, since October 7, 2023, temporarily blocked the entrance to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Knesset office on Wednesday, Israeli media reported.

Protesters demanded that Netanyahu meet with them and finalize a prisoner-exchange deal to retrieve the captives, estimated at 101 individuals.

This demonstration comes just a day after the Israeli cabinet agreed to a mediated ceasefire agreement with Lebanon.

Eli Albag, a relative of one of the captives, said that just as Netanyahu had agreed to a ceasefire to stop fighting Lebanon he should do the same in Gaza as well.

"If you want to, you can. Please, we are begging you from the bottom of our hearts," Albag said.

Security in the Israeli lawmaking body later forced the protesters one floor down, where they blocked the faction wing of the building. The relative of two captives criticized Netanyahu and the ceasefire deal, saying that "there is still tangible danger to residents of the north and Israeli citizens."

"Hezbollah maintains abilities the IDF hasn't yet eliminated," Sharon Sharabi said, adding that despite these facts, Netanyahu's government agreed to the ceasefire.

He demanded that the same process should be done in Gaza, to secure the release of the captives.

Leaked documents reveal that Netanyahu and his government actively sought to evade a ceasefire agreement they had previously committed to earlier this year. This betrayal led to the exposure of a shocking outcome where four out of six captives, whose bodies were recovered from the southern Gaza Strip in September, were originally slated for release in the first phase of the now shattered ceasefire deal.