‘They’re all humanitarian’: Weekly rallies to demand comprehensive hostage deal
In Hanukkah-themed protest, hostage families urge ‘action, not miracles,’ amid declining optimism for deal; rally against judicial overhaul returns to Kaplan for 4th week in a row
Thousands of people are expected to attend anti-government and pro-hostage deal rallies Saturday night, the fourth night of Hanukkah, as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of derailing negotiations for an agreement to release the captives.
Meanwhile, police detained five people who held an early pro-hostage deal protest outside the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem Saturday morning. They were released later in the day.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum’s rally in Tel Aviv Saturday night will be kicked off by Yocheved Lifshitz, whom Hamas released in the ceasefire last November and whose husband Oded remains in captivity. Lifshitz will light the Hanukkah candles at the start of the rally with her son Yizhar, the Forum said.
The weekly rally, at Hostages Square, is also set to feature speeches by Ofek Shaul, brother of Oron Shaul, one of two IDF soldiers whose bodies Hamas has held since 2014; Yair Mozes, son of hostage Gadi Mozes and captivity survivor Margalit Mozes; Sharon Sharabi, brother of captive Eli Sharabi and slain hostage Yossi Sharabi; Elah Ben Ami, daughter of hostage Ohad Ben Ami; and Almog Meir Jan, one of four hostages whom Israel rescued in June.
Smaller rallies in Kiryat Gat, Jerusalem and the Shaar HaNegev Junction in the south will take place, the Forum said.
The rallies come as Israel and Hamas have blamed each other over the past week for procrastinating in the hostage deal talks, which had appeared to gain new momentum in recent weeks.
The Forum has assailed Netanyahu for apparently aiming to reach a deal that would initially release only so-called humanitarian cases — female, elderly or sickly hostages.
“After 14 months, they’re all humanitarian,” the Forum said Thursday in an announcement of its weekend rallies, warning that the hostages may not survive the coming winter.
A block away from the Hostages Square rally, anti-government hostage families and their supporters will protest in front of the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters.
Alluding to the Hanukkah story, activists have erected an unlit menorah that reads: “Action, not miracles.” Police broke up the activists’ gathering on Wednesday, the first night of Hanukkah, citing a “security incident.”
That protest will be bolstered by protesters from an earlier demonstration, at the Begin-Kaplan junction, against the return of the government’s judicial overhaul.
The anti-judicial overhaul protest, organized by the “Free in our Homeland” movement, will start with a march from Tel Aviv’s Habima Square to the junction, which is also known as Democracy Square. The renewed protest, now in its fourth week, is set to feature a speech by Yair Golan, head of the Democrats — a merger of the left-wing Labor and Meretz parties — as well as a performance by iconic Israeli rock band T-Slam.
“We’ve come to banish the darkness,” the protest group said in a statement, quoting a well-known Hanukkah song.
Also on Saturday morning, police arrested five people who had protested for a hostage deal outside Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem, according to the Detainee Support Group, a team of lawyers who volunteer on behalf of detained anti-government protesters.
Some 20 people gathered outside the home early in the morning calling out with loudspeakers to the premier that the hostages are suffering in Hamas tunnels in winter “cold, tortured and sick” while he’s hunkered down in his protected home, Channel 12 reported.
They also chanted that his wife was being investigated by police and his son was avoiding reserve duty at a time of war by living in Miami. “Everything is closing in on you. We the people will not forget and will not forgive,” they shouted.
They also banged on drums and blew horns.
היום | שבת | 28.12 | 18:30 | עזה פינת ברלין | ירושלים
נחושי החופשיים הגיעו למשוך בדש מעילו של המחריב בעזה 35!
בזמן שאישתו ובנו נמלטו למיאמי,
הוא מסתגר במבצר האחרון.
המשטרה מגוננת עליו ועצרה 5 פעילים, כרגע במשטרת מוריה.המשמרת השניה כבר מתארגנת להגיע הערב!
נפגשים בעזה פינת… pic.twitter.com/aRC1DmQyTO
— החופשיים – מרי הכרחי (@GershonDror) December 28, 2024
Channel 12 reported that the protesters were detained on their way back from the two-dozen-strong, 20-minute demonstration. According to the report, police followed the group and accused them of violating noise laws. The protesters were interrogated at Jerusalem’s Moriah police station, the network said. They were later released.
Protesters accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war to avoid the collapse of his right-wing government. The war was sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
It is believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas released 105 civilians during the weeklong truce last November, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
The Times of Israel Community.