Hundreds call for hostage deal, immediate elections in rally outside President’s Residence

Hundreds of protesters are rallying outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, demanding a hostage deal and immediate elections.

The rally takes place in the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision last week not to send an Israeli delegation to Cairo on Thursday for further hostage negotiations, incensing the Hostages and Missing Families Forum who decried the decision as a “death sentence” for the remaining captives.

Organizers are passing out strips of tape with the number 134 written on them, signaling both the number of days since the hostages were kidnapped by Hamas and the number of hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza.

Lia, one of the student organizers of the protest, quotes the late Alexei Navalny as she speaks from the stage, comparing Israel’s right-wing government to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

“You are not allowed to give up,” she says. “We are a huge power that is being oppressed by these bad dudes.”

After gathering outside the President’s Residence, the protesters will march to Paris Square and demonstrate next to the Prime Minister’s Residence.