Hundreds of thousands of Israelis demonstrated across the country on Sunday to demand a prisoner swap deal with the Palestinian Resistance in the Gaza Strip.
Saying “Action is needed now!” the organizers posted on X that the demonstrators “called on the Israeli government to urgently negotiate a deal to secure the release of the remaining” captives.
“We can only hope that the rallying cry, ‘Bring Them Home, NOW,’ resonates powerfully with the Prime Minister and the members of the Political-Security cabinet,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
Protesters blocked several streets in Jerusalem, Haifa, Ashdod, Ramat Negev and Kfar Tavor, the state public broadcaster KAN said, cited by the Anadolu news agency.
Thousands also organized a mass march in front of government offices in Jerusalem.
Organizers estimated that “300,000 people” gathered in Tel Aviv and “an additional 200,000” participated in protests elsewhere across the country, The Times of Israel reported.
“Although there are no official numbers from police, the Crowd Solutions firm estimates that some 280,000 people participated in this evening’s demonstration in central Tel Aviv, in what would be the largest rally in almost 18 months,” the paper said.
General Strike
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are expected to join a one-day general strike on Monday aimed at pressuring the government further to reach a ceasefire deal.
The Largest Protest Yet: Over 300,000 Rally in Tel Aviv, 500,000 Across Israel Demand Action – Put An End To the Hostages Abandonment!
In a powerful demonstration organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum hundreds of thousands of protesters gather across Israel.
The… pic.twitter.com/6uxLtTsBgO— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) September 1, 2024
The strike was called on Sunday by “an umbrella union representing most public sector workers,” the Times of Israel said.
Banks and other businesses will also be affected by the strike, as the Israel Business Forum, which represents around 200 of the country’s biggest companies, said workers “would be allowed to join the strike.”
Protests were expected to continue throughout the day, “with large demonstrations planned for Monday afternoon in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.”
Captives’ Bodies Found
The protests came hours after the Israeli army said early on Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of six captives in a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to an anonymous Israeli official cited by the Israeli news website Ynet, three of the captives whose bodies were listed to be retrieved as part of the ceasefire agreement of July 2.
Bodies of Six Captives Recovered – Three Included in July Agreement Rejected by Netanyahu
Haaretz also reportedly cited an Israeli source, who said three of the hostages had “appeared in the lists given over at the beginning of July. It was possible to bring them back alive.”
Before the discovery of the six bodies, Israel had claimed that 107 prisoners were still held in Gaza, including several who had died.
Hamas had previously stated that dozens of detainees were killed by Israeli bombings across the enclave during the 11-month genocidal war.
‘The Price is One’
US President Joe Biden confirmed that one of the bodies found was that of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American citizen.
Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” and added that Hamas leaders will pay “for these crimes”.
In this video, Hergh Goldberg Polin, one of the captives whose bodies were recovered today, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of neglecting them.
“Netanyahu, you neglected us. Don't you want to end this nightmare?
“Bring us home immediately.”
Goldberg Polin… pic.twitter.com/uAAnTwx4WV
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) September 1, 2024
Hamas, in a statement, blamed Israel for the deaths of the captives, citing Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and accused the US of supporting the aggression.
The movement said the detainees were killed by Israeli bombings and argued that if Biden was truly concerned for their lives, he should stop supporting Israel.
On Saturday night, Hamas released a message titled “The Price is One” on its Telegram channel, recalling previous statements by the Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson, Abu Obeida, who had said that “the price for the release of five prisoners is the same as for all prisoners.”
For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and a ceasefire as well as allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’ demands to stop the war.
Over 40,000 Killed
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 40,738 Palestinians have been killed, and 94,154 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
Joe Biden would be much, much more believable if he’d said the same thing about the Palestinian-Americans the Israelis have so liberally murdered in Palestine. If every Palestinian-American would flood the White House mailbox with quotations of his words and the proof that he’s done nothing to bring the murderers of Palestinian-Americans such as Shireen Abu Akleh to justice, he might reconsider his words – though I’m not hopeful.