JERUSALEM

Israeli police in Tel Aviv arrested on Saturday demonstrators for "inciting a riot" after they called on the government to agree to a deal for the release of hostages in Gaza.

“The demonstrators continued to walk in the nearby streets (to Kaplan Street) and light bonfires throughout the city, risking human lives,” the Israeli police said on X.

The police forces arrested “12 rioters who lit fires and were caught in possession of combustible materials and tires.”

Thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Saturday in Kaplan Square in central Tel Aviv, and other areas to demand the conclusion of a hostage exchange deal with Hamas as well as holding early elections.

The demonstrators blocked roads, including Begin Street, adjacent to the Defense Ministry headquarters in the city center.

Israel has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas, in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 250 others taken as hostages. About half of them were released in a week-long November truce.

Indirect negotiations to reach a cease-fire and hostage-prisoners exchange deal, mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar, are underway but the progress is said to be slow.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi