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Journalism of Courage
Protesters in Israel on Tuesday torched tires and blocked highways, demanding a ceasefire that would free the hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and are still being held in Gaza.
Responding to a call from Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum for a “National Day of Struggle,” protesters waved banners that read “Hostage Deal Now.” The relatives of hostages said they hope steady pressure can push Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet to commit to ceasefire talks.
“Go back to the negotiation table. There’s a good deal on the table. It’s something we can work with,” said Ruby Chen, the father of 21-year-old Itay Chen, a dual Israeli-American citizen whose body is being held in Gaza. “We could get a deal done to bring all the hostages back.”
The protesters blocked Route 1 and Route 6, two major highways in central Israel, connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem near the Daniel Interchange, where the two roads meet.
On Route 6, demonstrators unfurl a massive banner on the road that reads: “Ending the war, bringing everyone home.”
“We could have ended the war a year ago and brought all the hostages and soldiers home. We could have saved hostages and soldiers, but the prime minister chose, again and again, to sacrifice civilians for the sake of his rule,” said Einav Zangauker, whose 25-year-old son Matan was abducted from Kibbutz.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum also addressed US President Donald Trump in a statement, saying: “You’ve stated that in the next 2-3 weeks there will be a conclusive ending to the war. We pray this is true and that you gave a deadline to end our suffering.”
The protests are gaining momentum at a time when Israel has launched an expanded offensive in Gaza City to pressure Hamas. Netanyahu has said the offensive is the best way to weaken Hamas and return hostages, but hostage families and their supporters have pushed back.
Hamas captured 251 Israelis during the October 7, 2023 attack, and a vast majority of them have been released during ceasefires. Israel has rescued only eight hostages alive, while around fifty remain in Gaza. The IDF believes that only around 20 of the remaining hostages are alive.
The protests come a day after a deadly IDF strike against Gaza’s main hospital killed 20 people, including medics and journalists.
The strike, among the deadliest of the war against both journalists and hospitals, sparked shock and outrage among press freedom advocates and Palestinians, who mourned the dead at funerals on Monday. It was swiftly condemned across the globe.
Netanyahu called it a “tragic mishap” and said the military would investigate. Most of those killed died after rushing to the scene of the first blast, only to be hit by a second strike — an attack captured on television by several networks.
The southern Gaza strike came as Israel prepares to expand its offensive into densely populated areas of northern Gaza. Israel’s military wants people in hospitals, displacement camps and Gaza City neighbourhoods to evacuate southward to so-called safe zones.
A day after the strike on the hospital, Israeli strikes killed at least 16 Palestinians on Tuesday, hospitals said. Officials from Nasser Hospital, Shifa Hospital and Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan clinic reported that among the 16 were families, women and children.
Gaza’s Health Ministry also said on Tuesday that three more adults died of causes related to malnutrition and starvation, bringing the malnutrition-related death toll to 186 since late June, when the ministry started to count fatalities among this age category.
The toll includes 117 children since the start of the war. Israel’s military offensive has killed 62,819, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children.
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