Saturday hostage rallies draw thousands as families end 1st week of encampment
Protests take place as Netanyahu convenes the cabinet a day after negotiators returned from Doha; families forum slam meeting as belated: ‘The opportunity is now’
Weekly pro-hostage deal and anti-government rallies drew thousands of people on Saturday night, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to discuss negotiations for the release of hostages with Israeli officials who returned from Doha on Friday.
The rallies come a week after families and supporters began an open-ended round-the-clock encampment outside the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv.
As part of the encampment, families held a Friday night Shabbat dinner at Hostages Square, across the street from the headquarters’ northern gate; and on Saturday morning, the encampment’s daily jog drew hundreds of people — a large uptick in participants.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, which invited the public to join “Operation Kirya Cordon,” was holding its central rally in the evening at Hostages Square.
In a press release on the rally, the forum demanded that Israel secure a deal to return the remaining 59 hostages “in a single, immediate release.”
“The opportunity is now, and there won’t be another time,” said the forum. “If an agreement is not reached soon, the living hostages may die in the tunnels, and we won’t be able to locate and return the deceased for proper burial.”
The Hostages Square rally was set to feature speeches by Etty Israeli, aunt of slain captive soldier Itay Chen; Yotam Cohen, brother of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen; Liran Berman, older brother of hostage twins Gali and Ziv Berman; Hadassa Lazar, sister of Shlomo Mantzur, whose remains were returned to Israel last month as part of the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal; Maya Shmiel, cousin of captive Eitan Horn and of Iair Horn, who was released on February 15 as part of the deal; and Nira Sharabi, wife of slain captive Yossi Sharabi and sister-in-law of Eli Sharabi, who was released on February 8.
In addition to Hostages Square, dozens of smaller rallies were taking place around the country, including in Jerusalem, Kiryat Gat and the Sha’ar HaNegev Junction in the south.
A block away from Hostages Square, anti-government hostage families and supporters were holding their weekly protest outside the Kirya’s main entrance on Begin Road.
They were to be joined by protesters marching from an earlier anti-government demonstration at Habima Square, which aimed to highlight “Qatargate” — the investigation of alleged ties between Netanyahu’s top aides and the Gulf state.
The Habima Square protest was set to feature speeches from The Democrats chief Yair Golan, former deputy attorney general Dina Zilber, and Shikma Bressler, a prominent activist in demonstrations against the government’s overhaul plan to weaken the judiciary.
The protests were timed to take place during Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting with senior officials at his office in Jerusalem to discuss developments in the hostage-ceasefire talks. The Families Forum has slammed the premier for not meeting with officials as soon as the negotiators returned on Friday.
The talks are said to be based on a “bridge proposal” by Steve Witkoff, the White House Middle East envoy, to extend the ceasefire’s first phase until April 19 and continue the exchange of living Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Witkoff said Friday that Hamas was making a “very bad bet” if it did not accept the offer.
Israel has accused Hamas of evading Witkoff’s proposal, most recently after the terror group on Thursday offered to release US-Israeli captive IDF soldier Edan Alexander and the remains of four other dual nationals. The Families Forum slammed the offer as “passport-based” discrimination.
An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel on Friday that Hamas’s offer was based on its talks with US hostages envoy Adam Boehler on March 4. The Hamas-US meeting triggered outrage in Israel, which reportedly leaked the talks’ existence in a bid to thwart them.
Alexander, 20, is slated for release in a potential second phase of the hostage deal, which would see Hamas release the remaining 24 hostages still thought to be alive. All of them are men abducted on October 7, 2023, when the terror group invaded southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
The 42-day first phase, which expired on March 2, saw Hamas release 33 hostages, some living and others dead, in exchange for some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including over 270 serving life terms in connection with the murders of dozens of Israelis.
The January 19 deal between Israel and Hamas was supposed to transition from phase one to phase two on March 2, with negotiations on the second stage slated to begin on day 16 of the first stage.
However, for almost a month, Israel refused to hold serious negotiations on the terms of phase two, which would require Israel to withdraw from Gaza and agree to permanently end the war — a red line for Netanyahu’s right-wing flank, which has threatened to topple the government.
In addition to the 24 hostages still thought to be alive, Hamas also holds the bodies of 35 captives confirmed dead by the IDF — 34 abducted in the Hamas onslaught, and Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in the 2014 Gaza war.
The Times of Israel Community.