Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday, in a demonstration to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the conclusion of an exchange deal with the Palestinian factions, and the holding of early elections.
The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth (privately) reported that tens of thousands of Israelis participated in the central demonstration organized weekly in Kaplan Square in central Tel Aviv, and demanded the conclusion of an immediate prisoner exchange deal that would lead to the release of detainees in Gaza.
During their participation in the demonstration, the families of detainees in Gaza called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to adopt the deal announced by US President Joe Biden on Friday.
The official broadcasting authority said that the police arrested 7 people in Kaplan Square, on charges of inciting a riot, while water tankers were used to forcefully disperse the demonstrators.
The police also attacked a number of demonstrators near the Azrieli Mall in Tel Aviv, and tried to disperse the demonstration that was organized there, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
In the city of Jerusalem, thousands of Israelis demonstrated in front of the home of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, with the aim of pressing for an exchange deal and holding early elections, according to the official Hebrew Broadcasting Corporation.
The demonstrators chanted against Netanyahu and demanded his dismissal and early elections, according to the commission.
Netanyahu insists on a temporary ceasefire, without ending the war or withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, while Hamas demands an end to the war, the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army, the return of the displaced, intensification of relief, and the start of reconstruction, within any prisoner exchange agreement.
With the mediation of Egypt and Qatar and the participation of the United States, Israel and Hamas have been conducting faltering indirect negotiations for months, while the Israeli war on Gaza has continued since October 7, 2023.
Through negotiations with Hamas alone, Israel exchanged 105 of these detainees, some of whom were foreign workers, for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, during a temporary truce with the factions that lasted 7 days and ended in early December 2023.
Israel is currently talking about the remaining 121 of these prisoners in the hands of the factions, while Hamas announced on May 26 that it was able to capture new Israeli soldiers during an operation in Gaza, without revealing a specific number, which Israel denied.
The Israeli war on Gaza left more than 118,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues this war, ignoring a Security Council resolution demanding that it stop the fighting immediately, and orders from the Court of Justice to stop its attack on Rafah, and take immediate measures to prevent acts of “genocide” and “improve the humanitarian situation” in Gaza.
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