ISTANBUL

Israeli teens blocked a main road in Tel Aviv on Sunday to demand a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Palestinians, local media said.

According to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, dozens of high school students blocked the northbound Ayalon Highway, demanding the government sign an agreement to return all hostages and end the war in Gaza.

“We will not allow the school year to begin,” chanted the students as they burned school desks on the road.

Local media said a woman and a teenager were arrested during the protest.

The new school year in Israel is set to start on Monday.

Last week, the Palestinian resistance group Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by Egyptian and Qatari mediators. While Israel has not responded to the proposal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave orders to proceed with a plan to occupy Gaza City.

Tel Aviv estimates that nearly 50 Israeli hostages are still held in Gaza, including 20 alive. There are more than 10,400 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, suffering from torture, starvation, and medical neglect, which has resulted in many deaths, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.

Israel has killed nearly 63,500 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.