සටන් විරාමයක් ඉල්ලමින් ඊශ්‍රායලයේ ජනතාව උද්ඝෝෂණයේ

Israeli citizens hold protests demanding immediate action to reach ceasefire agreement

Israeli citizens on Sunday held rallies to criticize the Israeli government for failing to secure the safe release the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, demanding the government to take immediate action to reach agreements with Hamas on a ceasefire and the release of hostages.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press briefing on Sunday that its forces on Saturday recovered the bodies of six hostages in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area, southern Gaza.

Following the news, flocks of Israeli citizens in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Ashkelon and West Jerusalem took to the streets to voice their dissatisfaction with the government for failing to rescue the hostages.

Holding up banners and photos of hostages and chanting slogans, protesters in front of the Israeli Parliament building in West Jerusalem demanded the Israeli government to take action and reach agreements with Hamas.

"We are here to protest against that and to make our government make the right decision, stop the war, do whatever is needed to do to bring the rest of the hostages that are still alive, to bring them alive," said Sharon, one of the protesters.

"Today, we're here in this protest to demand freeing of the hostages that are in Gaza, but it's not only today, it's more than 300 days that we are protesting," said Zvi, another protester.

The latest round of ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip, which resumed in mid-August, has once again reached a deadlock. Many protesters believe these are intentional obstructions by certain people, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who are preventing the conclusion of a ceasefire agreement.

Despite the uncertainities, protesters still hope there will be progress in the ceasefire negotiations.

"I don't know whether this is the last chance, but this is definitely a chance. We need to give that chance to conclude. And so, [we] really hope that the negotiation would be back and will be finalized. We need to do everything possible to finalize the negotiations," said Bruno, another protester.

"We hope that there are still negotiations going on. We are afraid that Netanyahu doesn't really want to make the negotiations. He finds the way to always... at the last moment. I also think that the Gaza people are suffering as well. I think that war is not a way to bring anything good to us. A negotiation should be done, a deal must be done," said Sharon.

• Tags:
• feature