Protesters block Tel Aviv highway demanding deal: ‘It’s either Rafah or the hostages’
As Netanyahu vows IDF will enter southern Gaza city regardless of potential truce with Hamas, protesters place giant photos of female captives outside PM’s Jerusalem home
Protesters on Thursday morning blocked Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway in both directions for around 20 minutes in a demonstration calling for an immediate deal to free over 100 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7.
Holding a large banner reading, “It’s either Rafah or the hostages — choose life,” the protesters stood in the middle of the busy thoroughfare to prevent morning traffic from passing.
Hebrew media reported that several family members of hostages were leading the protest, including Yehuda Cohen, the father of 19-year-old Nimrod Cohen, Yifat Calderon, the cousin of Ofer Calderon, 53, and Shay Mozes, the nephew of 79-year-old Gadi Mozes.
A woman throwing eggs at the protesters was arrested, according to Hebrew media.
Also in attendance were members of a female-led protest group urging Israel not to launch its looming offensive in Rafah and claiming it would endanger the lives of the hostages, many of whom are believed to be held in Gaza’s southernmost city.
“Entering Rafah means abandoning the lives of the hostages,” the group said in a press statement. “After half a year of being promised that only military action can bring back the hostages, we all understand that the only way to save those who can still be saved is through a deal.”
מפגינות ממחאת הנשים וכמה בני משפחות חטופים חוסמות את איילון לשני הכיוונים באזור לה גוורדיה, תחת הכותרת ״זה או רפיח או החטופים, בוחרות בחיים״ pic.twitter.com/v3rzqjvf2E
— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) May 2, 2024
It is believed that 129 of the 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, and four hostages were released prior to that. Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 12 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.
The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 34 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.
“Don’t give in to the pressure of extremists who use the hostages as an excuse to continue waging war,” the group adds, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of warnings from far-right members of the government including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich against making a hostage deal that requires dramatic concessions on Israel’s part.
“Those who were abandoned must be returned. Deal now!” the protesters added.
The hostages were seized during Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 253, mostly civilians, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Netanyahu told visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday that the IDF would launch a mass invasion of Rafah to dismantle four remaining Hamas battalions whether or not there is a hostage deal, according to an Israeli official.
During their meeting, Blinken reiterated Washington’s opposition to a major IDF ground invasion in the southern Gaza city, where over one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering amid the ongoing war, “absent an effective plan to make sure that civilians are not harmed” — which he said Israel has yet to provide.
The comments came as Hamas appeared poised to reject the latest hostage deal proposal crafted by mediators and green-lit by Israel, which provides for the release of 33 female, elderly or sick hostages in the first stage.
Meanwhile in Jerusalem, protesters placed large photos of female hostages outside Netanyahu’s residence in the capital, alongside a sign reading, “Look into their eyes. All eyes are on you. Deal now!”
The female-led protest group added in a statement, “A very bad morning to you, prime minister of Israel, a morning when our sisters and brothers who were kidnapped on your watch are marking 209 days in the tunnels in Gaza. Look them in the eyes when you get up in the morning, in your home, while they endured another night of terror in Gaza. We are here to remind you this morning that their eyes and ours are on you, and on the whole cabinet. Deal — now!”
Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
