‘Act swiftly and decisively’: Hostage families rallying as talks seem set to restart
Qatari PM confirms return to mediator role due to incoming White House’s ‘encouragement’; Tel Aviv ‘Democracy March’ to reach Kaplan Street despite no police approval
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum’s weekly rallies are expected to draw thousands of people across the country Saturday night, as anti-government protesters are set to return to Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street despite the police opposition.
The rallies come amid renewed optimism that a truce-hostage deal could be achieved following the ceasefire in Lebanon and the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump.
The Forum’s central rally will be held on Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, with smaller rallies in Jerusalem, Kiryat Gat, the south’s Shaar HaNegev junction and elsewhere.
The Forum said that “the coming winter presents a grave threat to the hostages, who may not survive the harsh conditions in the tunnels.” The group reiterated its demand for a single-stage hostage release, rather than the staggered release envisioned in certain draft proposals.
Set to speak at Hostages Square are Tami Baruch, mother of slain hostage Sahar Baruch; Roni and Shay Albag, sisters of captive soldier Liri Albag; Amnon Shahar, grandfather of captive soldier Naama Levy; and Noam Safir, granddaughter of hostage Shlomo Mansour, 86, the oldest person in Hamas captivity; and Nofar Buchstav, sister of Yagev Buchstav — one of six hostages whose bodies were recovered in August, and who the IDF said this week had been executed by their captors six months before in response to an Israeli airstrike.
“Following significant statements by security, political and international officials asserting that now is the time for a deal to bring the hostages home, the hostages’ families are urging decision-makers to act swiftly and decisively” toward a hostage deal, the Forum said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides had said this week that they were increasingly optimistic by a new hostage deal proposal that Egypt had crafted; and on Saturday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani confirmed his country would resume its role as a mediator in negotiations for a truce-hostage deal, citing “encouragement” from the incoming Trump administration.
Trump himself had warned earlier this week that there would be “all hell to pay” if the hostages were not released by his swearing-in on January 20. The statement came after the IDF confirmed that US-Israeli soldier Omer Neutra had been killed on October 7, 2023, and his body is being held in Hamas.
On Wednesday, the IDF and Shin Bet also announced they had recovered the body of hostage Itay Svirsky, whom Hamas murdered in captivity.
A block away from Hostages Square, hundreds of people are expected to join anti-government hostage families in a protest outside the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters, a block away from the square.
The Begin Road protest will be augmented by a “Democracy March” from Habima Square, set to feature opposition lawmakers. The activists will march to Democracy Square, at the Kaplan-Begin interchange — site of the mass weekly protests against the government’s judicial overhaul in 2023.
Meanwhile, the binational socialist collective Standing Together will protest against the war in Gaza outside Tel Aviv’s London Ministore, also near Hostages Square. The group said it will hold parallel protests in Jerusalem, Deir al-Asad, Beersheba and elsewhere.
Police had informed the organizers on Thursday that the protest at Democracy Square was not approved, since too few people had showed up there the previous week in order to justify closing the junction.
The protesters slammed the move, countering that the low turnout was a function of the IDF Home Front Command’s restrictions on public gatherings. Organizers said they would march to Democracy Square despite the police’s decision.
The restrictions, put in place amid the escalation against Hezbollah, have been lifted due to the ceasefire in Lebanon.
Unprovoked, the Iran-backed terror group began near-daily attacks against Israel on October 8, 2023 — a day after thousands of terrorists led by its ally Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
It is believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
