Hostage families vow to bring country to a halt after several bodies found in Gaza
Forum urges major disruptions Sunday to protest government ‘abandonment,’ after thousands rally for ceasefire deal; sister of hostage injured by mounted police in Tel Aviv clashes
A prominent activist group representing many relatives of hostages held in Gaza called on the public Saturday night to stage major protests against the government on Sunday, shortly after the military said it had found several bodies in Gaza that may be remains of Israeli hostages.
If that possibility is confirmed, it would come after more bodies of captives were recently returned from the Strip, further fueling accusations that the leadership has left the hostages to die in captivity by failing to secure a deal to return them. That accusation has featured in recent weekly demonstrations, including mass rallies held Saturday evening.
“At this stage, the forces are still operating in the area and carrying out a process to extract and identify the bodies, which will last several hours,” the military said, calling on the public not to spread unverified rumors.
Minutes later, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a self-described “dramatic” statement, saying: “Netanyahu abandoned the hostages. It is now a fact. Starting tomorrow, the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. The country will grind to a halt. The abandonment is over.”
The Forum said it would provide further details on Sunday morning.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid also responded, accusing Netanyahu of focusing on insignificant issues as “our sons and daughters are being abandoned and dying in captivity.”
“Not the Philadelphi Corridor nor the polio vaccines [in Gaza] interest him — just the coalition and preserving [the partnership with Bezalel] Smotrich and [Itamar] Ben Gvir,” he charged. “In the process, he is crushing the families and the nation of Israel.”
The developments came days after the security cabinet voted to back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand to not withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor in any deal, and as a polio vaccination drive was beginning in the Gaza Strip.
Protests, clashes in Tel Aviv
Anti-government protesters gathered throughout Israel on Saturday to call for the release of hostages and the replacement of the government.
As has been the case for the months, two rallies were held adjacent to one another in Tel Aviv, one focusing on holding early elections and the other, led by family members of hostages, calling for a ceasefire-hostage deal.
The protest at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv was hosted by actor Lior Ashkenazi, who said that no child should have to start a new school year having learned or experienced what has happened over the last eleven months.
Yael Adar, mother of Tamir Adar who was killed defending Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and taken captive to Gaza, said her grandchildren — Tamir’s daughters — will go to school on Sunday for the first time without their father. Her four-year-old granddaughter is in a nursery class that includes some who were killed on October 7, another who was taken hostage, and some whose parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles were killed or taken hostage.
“She’ll see the empty chair of Ariel Bibas,” said Adar, referring to the toddler who turned 5 in captivity earlier this month. “How do you explain that to children?”
The brother of hostage Idan Shtivi, Omri, used his speech to address Netanyahu, himself a bereaved brother of Yoni Netanyahu who rescued over 100 hostages during the 1976 raid on Entebbe, and asked how the brother of someone “who gave up his life to rescue hostages — is refusing to save the hostages. When is it Idan’s turn to be free?”
Shtivi spoke about the “huge gap between the courage of the IDF soldiers, their battles and successes, and the lack of achievement on the part of the government. It’s humiliating.”
Released hostage Agam Goldstein-Almog, who returned home after 51 days in captivity along with her mother and two younger siblings, having seen her father and older sister killed by Hamas terrorists, said she was attending the rally to show that “there is life after death.”
“But I cannot describe how difficult it is for me to start a new life here while lives are ending there,” Goldstein-Almog said. “How hard it is to look forward when their faces are before me all the time. How can I begin to process my immense loss when I’m constantly afraid of losing more people? How can I start without telling you about those still in captivity?”
The faces and names of each hostage, those presumed alive and those who were killed in captivity, were shown during the protests as the crowd of thousands called, “All of them, bring them home now!”
The anti-government protest held at Democracy Square was highlighted by speakers Yair Golan, chairman of the Labor party now rebranded as The Democrats, and Yaniv Roznai, a professor of constitutional law at Reichman University.
After the official portion of the protests ended, some demonstrators briefly blocked the Ayalon Highway before being pushed back by police.
The police officers also stood between the demonstrators and right-wing counter-protesters who appeared in the same location near the Ayalon Highway. Some anti-government protesters said a right-wing activist had used pepper spray against them.
Police skirmished with anti-government protesters, and Natalie Zangauker, whose brother Matan is captive in Gaza and whose mother Einav has been a leading voice in the protest movement, was knocked over by a horse-mounted police officer and hospitalized for medical attention.
רגעי הדריסה של נטלי צנגאוקר ע"י פרש משטרתי
הערב על רחוב בגין
מטורף!
אין משטרה בישראל
יש מיליציה אלימה בשירות השלטון
שמתעלל בחטופים ובמשפחותיהםקרדיט: ג׳רמי פורטנוי pic.twitter.com/JtFpIjM9qZ
— Or-ly Barlev ???? אור-לי ברלב (@orlybarlev) August 31, 2024
Labor MKs Naama Lazimi and Gilad Kariv were at the scene, attempting to protect the protesters and arguing that it is illegal to use horse-mounted police in nonviolent protests.
Lazimi tweeted that a man who tried to treat her and was himself arrested is the deputy head of the transplant unit at Beilinson Hospital.
Police said the incident would be “checked,” and Natalie Zangauker released a video from Ichilov Hospital, referring to the demonstrations called for Sunday in response to the bodies being found.
“Even mounted police won’t stop me from protesting for Matan and the rest of the hostages,” she said late Saturday night. “Tomorrow everyone heads out to protest on their behalf.”
Protests across Israel
In Nes Ziona, protests revolved around the school year set to begin on Sunday by exhibiting schoolbags featuring the faces of Ariel Bibas and his baby brother, Kfir Bibas. Another protester held a sign mimicking a piece of looseleaf paper that read: “What I did on my summer vacation: 1. Lived in a hotel (where evacuees are still living months after October 7) 2. I started wetting the bed again 3. A missile hit my house and destroyed it 4. My father was injured in Gaza 5. I missed my friends.”
At Hemed Junction, protesters lined the side of the highway. A set of women sat with their eyes covered and wrists tied, symbolizing the female hostages held in Gaza. In Haifa, hundreds of people marched, calling for elections and holding signs accusing Netanyahu of abandoning the hostages.
At Tzahala, poster board cutouts of the hostages were displayed, and protesters held oversized, bright red signs bordered with thumbnail pictures of each hostage and the message, “Netanyahu is torpedoing the deal” — each sign printed with dates of previous deals over the past months that were in negotiation and allegedly torpedoed by the prime minister.
In Caesarea, where Netanyahu owns a second home, hundreds lined the main street holding flags, drums and signs calling for the premier to be sent to jail. In nearby Karkur, protesters blocked the main intersection as they called for the government to be disbanded immediately. Police forces eventually blocked protesters and arrested one person.
Meanwhile, a senior Israeli official familiar with the hostage negotiations told The Times of Israel Saturday that Netanyahu was risking blowing up the talks so that the IDF can remain in the Philadelphi Corridor for a mere additional six weeks.
“The proposal he backed still requires the IDF to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor after the first phase,” the senior Israeli official said, fuming over the Thursday night security cabinet vote to back Netanyahu’s stance regarding military deployment along the nine-mile Gaza-Egypt border stretch.
“This isn’t about permanent control of the Philadelphi [Corridor]. It’s about six weeks,” the official added, referring to the length of the first phase of the three-phase ceasefire being negotiated.
“The security establishment still believes that we can return to the Philadelphi Corridor if need be even after withdrawing,” the official said, adding that the area would be “sterile” and lined with sensors and other security measures to prevent weapons smuggling.
The recovery of the hostages’ bodies who were alive until recently is the latest demonstration “that military pressure without a parallel diplomatic initiative is condemning the hostages to their deaths,” the Israeli official said.
The official lamented that Netanyahu has placed a premium on the importance of military pressure while neglecting the need to advance diplomatic initiatives, including a hostage deal.
Meanwhile, Channel 13 news quoted unnamed senior officials from several Israeli security bodies as saying the talks were “on the brink of collapse,” and accusing the government of managing the negotiations based on “political considerations.”
It is believed that 103 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 33 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 31 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.
