Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg Associated Press Protesters demanded a ceasefire agreement and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip after six hostages were reported killed in the Palestinian territory, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday.
Published at 9:15 a.m. Updated at 12:42 p.m.
Mobilization is growing in Israel to increase pressure on the government to obtain the release of hostages held in Gaza, after the death of six of them, despite the decision of an Israeli court to end a strike movement that was unevenly followed in the country on Monday. Demonstrations unlikely to impact Israeli government policies, according to an expert contacted by Le Devoir.
The hostages were kidnapped and taken to Gaza during an unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on October 7 in Israel, which triggered war in the Palestinian territory where new airstrikes and shelling were reported overnight.
Thousands of Israelis took to the streets again on Monday, the day after massive demonstrations in several cities across the country, to demand the return of the hostages.
“We want this government [of Benjamin Netanyahu] to cease to exist, we want elections, and above all we want him to sign an agreement to free the hostages and end this war that is terrible for both sides,” Barak Hadurian, a 56-year-old engineer, told AFP at a protest in Tel Aviv.
The Israeli trade union center has called for a “general strike” to increase pressure on the government to reach an agreement on the release of the hostages, after the discovery of the bodies of six hostages in the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
But the movement was followed unevenly on Monday, with several municipalities, notably that of Jerusalem, not following the call. The Tel Aviv Labor Court, seized by a minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, ordered an end to the strike in the afternoon.
Under increasing pressure to reach an agreement on the hostages after months of deadlock, Mr. Netanyahu threatened again on Sunday to “settle his score” with Hamas, considered a terrorist movement by Israel, like the United States and the European Union.
According to Middle East expert Rachad Antonius, even if these demonstrations “are serious pressure” on the Israeli government, they “are not enough to change the colonizing policy of Netanyahu.”
“The protesters are not questioning the relationship with the Palestinians and they are not questioning the policy of colonization. What they want is the release of the hostages. So, they blame Netanyahu for not having succeeded in bringing them back,” explains the professor of sociology at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
A position similar to that of the United States and Canada, notes Mr. Antonius. “For the moment, there is not enough protest, either inside Israel or outside by Israel's friends, to push Netanyahu to change his policy.”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Benjamin Netanyahu is also ready “to go all the way” in the conflict, which could eliminate the criticism that he is prolonging the war, underlines Rachard Antonius. He “doesn’t need to change” because “he has the Court, the parliament and the extreme right behind him,” says the expert.
Since For months, mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been trying to convince Hamas and Israel to reach an agreement for a ceasefire that includes an exchange of Palestinian hostages and prisoners held by Israel, but so far without success.
US President Joe Biden, who said he was “devastated” after the discovery of the bodies of the hostages, including Israeli-American Goldberg-Polin, is due to meet with US negotiators on Monday to discuss “efforts to reach an agreement that will secure the release of the remaining hostages,” according to the White House.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Health, the autopsy carried out on the bodies of the six hostages reveals that they were killed “at close range” “between Thursday and Friday morning.” But according to a Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, they were “killed by Israeli gunfire and shelling.”
In the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel that sparked war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 251 people were abducted: 97 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 declared dead by the army.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
Israeli reprisals for the October 7 attack left at least 40,786 dead in Gaza, according to the Hamas Health Ministry, causing a humanitarian and health disaster and the displacement of almost all of the city's 2.4 million inhabitants. According to the UN, the majority of the dead were women and minors.
On Sunday, the centre of the besieged Palestinian territory enjoyed a few hours of respite, as a major anti-polio campaign was launched in three-day “humanitarian pauses” from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Goal: Vaccinate more than 640,000 children under the age of ten, after the first confirmed case of the disease in the Palestinian territory in 25 years.
Overnight, shelling was reported in Gaza City, as well as airstrikes on Nusseirat in the center of the besieged Palestinian territory devastated by nearly eleven months of war.
At least two people were killed in a strike on an apartment in northern Gaza City, according to the Civil Defense.
Israel is also continuing its military operation launched Wednesday in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory separated from the Gaza Strip and occupied by Israel since 1967.
On Monday, in Jenin, in the north of this Palestinian territory, Israeli bulldozers destroyed roads, causing significant damage, according to an AFP correspondent.
At least 24 Palestinians, mostly fighters, have been killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank since Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. All were “terrorists,” according to the Israeli army.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, and Islamic Jihad, another armed group, said at least 14 of the dead were fighting in their ranks.
With Le Devoir.
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