Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to demand an exchange deal between their government and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. 

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid participated in the demonstrations and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to head to Cairo to seal the exchange deal, Al-Jazeera reported.   

The demonstrators held banners in Kaplan Square facing the Ministry of Defense demanding the departure of Netanyahu’s government and others, implying that ongoing negotiations in Cairo are the last chance for a deal with Hamas.

Lapid addressed Netanyahu during the demonstrations by saying; “Go yourself to Cairo (where a new round of negotiations on Gaza will begin on Sunday), don’t send anyone, the deal is now.”    

The opposition leader later published his photos of the demonstrations on his X account.

יאיר לפיד ועינב צנגאוקר צועדים מכיכר החטופים לשער בגין pic.twitter.com/lAnrSRgOsx

— Niv Dimor (@dimor_niv) August 24, 2024

Protests Everywhere

Simultaneously, thousands of other demonstrators took to the streets in Haifa in response to the call of the families of Israeli prisoners during which they demanded that the families’ appeal be met and a swap deal be sealed instantly.

Similarly, other demonstrations took place in different towns and cities namely one in which hundreds participated in front of Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea and Herzliya and occupied Jerusalem in which protesters demanded the departure of the government and an immediate swap deal, resulting in the arrest of three demonstrators.

Earlier on, the families of the prisoners held a press conference during which they accused Netanyahu of jeopardizing the lives of the prisoners by systematically blocking the exchange deal for his political ambitions.

מכיכר החטופים אני אומר לראש הממשלה – סע בעצמך לקהיר, אל תשלח אף אחד. סגור עסקה. עכשיו pic.twitter.com/gkkY1wmj1L

— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) August 24, 2024

The families also accused the Israeli prime minister of misleading the United States and adopting an opposite policy and appealed to US President Joe Biden not to trust him.

The demonstrations of families of Israeli prisoners have become a regular scene in the political spectrum of the country in which tens of thousands of protesters took part with occasional scuffles between demonstrators and the Israeli security forces and a number of arrests.  

Ongoing Genocide

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, 40,334 Palestinians have been killed, and 93,356 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Deadly Airstrikes – New Massacres in Central Gaza, One Israeli Soldier Killed

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’.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

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. 

(AJA, PC)