Thousands of Israelis demand agreement in new mass protest

September 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets of major Israeli cities on Saturday to demand an agreement to release hostages held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, according to protesters.

The most important event was again on Begin Street in Tel Aviv, where Anat Angrest, the mother of one of the hostages, soldier Matan Angrest, made public an audio recording recovered in the Gaza Strip in which her son implores Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring back the hostages, in what is their first proof of life since 7 October.

Many other hostage relatives took part in the rally, including Einav Zangauker, who said that the person holding her son hostage was Netanyahu, “a lying leader.”

One of the hostages released in November, Raz Ben Ami, said she knew even then that if the hostages “don’t come back now, they will come back in coffins.” “I’m fed up with the military pressure, which so far has only led to their deaths,” she said.

Another relative, Omri Shtivi, brother of hostage Idan Shtivi, referred to the future Israeli presence in the Philadelphia corridor between Gaza and Egypt, which is key to negotiations on a possible hostage release agreement. “Ask yourselves what is reversible. Philadelphia is reversible. The life of a murdered hostage is not reversible,” he stressed.

During the demonstration there were clashes with the police, who charged against the participants who did not disperse the march at the scheduled time, and at least seven people were arrested and caught with a possible flammable substance and several tyres that could be used to build a barricade.

The march for the hostages has once again merged with the anti-Netanyahu government demonstration that also takes place weekly on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv.

There were also attempts at clashes between protesters and far-right counter-demonstrators who remained in the area even after traffic resumed.