Thousands of Israelis rally in Tel Aviv, urging Gaza captives deal

Uproar intensifies after bodies of six captives found and army shares a video purportedly showing their living conditions.

Thousands of antigovernment Israeli protesters have gathered in central Tel Aviv, calling for more efforts to secure the release of captives held in Gaza.

The protesters gathered outside army headquarters and other government buildings on Saturday, chanting slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urging him to reach a deal with the Palestinian group Hamas to ensure the return of about 100 captives still held in the war-battered strip.

Mass protests have been renewed in Israel in the past two weeks after the bodies of six captives were recovered from Gaza. An estimated 750,000 people attended last weekend’s rally.

Families of the captives who participated in Saturday’s rally said they are frustrated over the government’s failed negotiations to bring the captives home. Many blamed Netanyahu for not reaching a deal because they believe it will help him remain in power as long as the war lasts.

“This deal-sabotaging government is forsaking the captives and abandoning them to die,” said Yotam Cohen, the brother of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza.

“As long as Netanyahu is in power, this war will go on indefinitely and there will be no hostage deal. To save the hostages lives, Netanyahu must be replaced,” Cohen told The Associated Press news agency.

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from the Jordanian capital, Amman, because Al Jazeera is banned in Israel, said the Israeli public has become increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu.

“They say he is neither capable nor willing to accept a deal. … They say Netanyahu and his government are doing nothing to ensure [the] captives’ release,” she said.

“Netanyahu has said in the face of pressure, whether domestic or international, that he is going to prosecute the war however he sees fit until all the goals of the war are achieved. But the reality is none of those goals has been achieved nearly a year later,” she added.

Army releases video

The uproar in Israel over the deaths of the six captives intensified after the Israeli military released a video of a Gaza tunnel where it said their bodies were found. The video shows a narrow passageway with no bathroom and poor ventilation.

Naama Weinberg, cousin of one of the killed captives Itay Svirsky, said the public was “horrified” by “the abysmal, inhuman conditions our hostages who are held in the Hamas tunnels are enduring”.

“They are dying, locked up in small unventilated cells, in tunnels deep underground with no air, malnourished, without seeing the light of day for 11 months,” Weinberg was quoted as saying by AP.

Hamas-led fighters killed more than 1,100 people and took nearly 250 captive during their attacks in southern Israel on October 7. Israel’s war on Gaza has since killed more than 41,000 Palestinians and displaced almost its entire 2.3 million population.