Thousands of Israelis demonstrated again across the country on Saturday evening for the release of hostages.
At a rally in Tel Aviv, the friend of a kidnapping victim recently found dead in the Gaza Strip called for an agreement with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
The relatives of the other hostages should not also have to embrace coffins, said Masen Abu Siam, an Arab Israeli. The Gaza war had led to much unnecessary bloodshed on both sides, he asserted.
His 53-year-old friend and his 22-year-old son were found dead a few days ago in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip. The two men, who belong to a Bedouin community, were killed while in Hamas captivity, according to the army. They had been abducted into the Gaza Strip during the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023.
The German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, was also expected at a rally in Tel Aviv. “Jews, Bedouins, Christians, Druze – the pain and grief over losing a hostage unites us all,” he wrote on the X platform.
According to media reports, hundreds of people also demonstrated again in Jerusalem to urge the government to make a deal with Hamas.
Indirect negotiations are currently under way again in the Gulf state of Qatar for a ceasefire and the release of the hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip in return for Palestinian prisoners.