Protesters block Tel Aviv highway as women’s groups demand immediate hostage deal
5,000 rally in Tel Aviv, capping off day of women-led events that included blocking of roads at intersections around the country
Masses of protesters demanding an immediate deal to free the Gaza hostages briefly blocked Tel Aviv’s main Ayalon Highway Wednesday evening, in scenes not seen since the bitter nationwide fight over the government’s judicial overhaul last year.
After a day of women-led protests that blocked many roads in coordination with police, an estimated 5,000 demonstrators gathered at Kaplan Interchange in Tel Aviv, demanding an immediate deal to return all the hostages and chanting, “Stop the world, our brothers are there.”
Some of the protesters then descended onto the main highway and blocked its southbound route.
Protesters clashed with police and initially prevented them from clearing the road, but it was reopened to traffic after half an hour.
Dozens also demonstrated on King George Street in Jerusalem Wednesday evening, chanting, “Our sisters are held hostage, the women take to the streets.”
The protests were launched as media outlets reported that Israel and Hamas were engaged in talks, brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, for a protracted ceasefire and hostage release deal. Israeli officials pushed back against claims that negotiations with Hamas were advancing, accusing the terror group of digging in on its positions and blocking any potential compromise.
המפגינים ירדו לחסום את איילון דרום באזור השלום ״תעצרו את העולם האחים שלנו שם״. pic.twitter.com/xZ0CFHL8iV
— Michal Peylan • מיכל פעילן (@michalpeylan) January 24, 2024
Hamas wants Israel to release all of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners it is holding. These include prisoners convicted in deadly attacks on Israelis as well as hundreds of Hamas terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre. It also wants Israel’s offensive to end and a permanent withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.
A senior Egyptian official told the Associated Press that Israel has proposed a two-month ceasefire in which hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and top Hamas leaders in Gaza would be allowed to relocate to other countries.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said Hamas rejected the proposal and insists no more hostages will be released until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws from Gaza. He also said Hamas’s leaders in Gaza do not want to go into exile.
Israel’s government declined to comment on the talks.
“We united to no longer stay silent. We are taking to the streets to choose life before everything,” the women’s protest group for the return of hostages said in a statement, announcing Wednesday’s events.
“Women were and still are changing reality and we will do it this time as well. We are hurting and angry, but for the first time we have hope. Let’s unite women of all sectors with a call to the cabinet to advance a deal to return the hostages,” they said.
Protesters from women’s groups calling for an immediate deal to secure the release of the hostages held in Gaza blocked a number of intersections and streets around the country as part of the day of action.
More than 10 police vehicles and dozens of officers were required to clear protesters at Karkur Junction in northern Israel, the Ynet news site reported.
צומת כרכור עכשיו – "מה אם זו היתה הבת שלך"
קרדיט: נאמן דמוקרטTV לירז רימון pic.twitter.com/7cDEcMklyS
— דמוקרטTV (@Democrat_TV) January 24, 2024
Around 100 protesters also blocked the Dizengoff/King George Junction in Tel Aviv, while dozens blocked Glilot Junction north of the city, the report said.
דיזנגוף פינת קינג ג'ורג' pic.twitter.com/s0OweENoWb
— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) January 24, 2024
Other activists also tried to prevent humanitarian aid from being transported into Gaza Wednesday, saying that Israel should not facilitate its entry until the hostages are freed.
Only nine out of the 60 trucks that arrived at the Kerem Shalom border crossing made it through, according to Ynet. The remaining 51 returned to Egypt after a six-hour wait at the crossing because hundreds of protesters from the Tsav 9 and Combatants’ Mothers groups, among others, physically blocked the trucks in an unauthorized protest action.
Another 106 trucks carrying aid crossed into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, but only after they had been screened by Israel at the Nitzana Crossing.
“It’s always insane to aid the enemy, but it’s especially zany to do it today, one day after they killed 24 of our soldiers and as they’re preparing to continue firing into our cities — even as they’re holding more than 130 of our hostages,” one protester, Reut Ben Haim, a mother of eight from Netivot, told The Times of Israel.
Israel’s government has vowed to continue to fight until Hamas is completely dismantled and its hostages freed, following the October 7 attack in which thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israeli communities, massacring some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 253.
It is believed that 132 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November. Four hostages were released prior to that, and one was rescued by troops. The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 28 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.
One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.
Canaan Lidor contributed to this report.
