Released hostage blasted by police water cannon at Tel Aviv protest

Freed hostage Ilana Gritzewsky was hit by a police water cannon while protesting for a hostage deal in Tel Aviv earlier this evening, Hebrew news outlet Ynet reports.

Gritzewsky was released from Gaza after 55 days in Hamas captivity in late November during a weeklong truce deal, and her partner Matan Zangauker is still held hostage.

According to Ynet, she arrived at the protest with Zangauker’s mother Einav, but the two got caught up in clashes between police forces and anti-government protesters, at which point the police deployed water cannons despite the pair being within the pre-approved boundaries of the protest route.

Speaking to Ynet, Zangauker says the two were part of a crowd of protesters who “blocked the lanes on Begin Street and held a torchlit march  as we surrounded the Kirya military base with the permission of the police.”

When the protest reached Kaplan Street, however, where a large anti-government protest was erupting into chaos as mounted police officers arrived to disperse crowds attempting to block traffic, the officer who was accompanying them left and they were hit with the water cannon, she says, adding that the police failed to coordinate with each other to prevent this from happening.

“I am the mother of a hostage, Ilana was in captivity for 55 days and came to sound the cry for her partner, and this is the treatment we receive?” Einav laments.