Middle East

Scores of Israelis protest in Tel Aviv to demand prisoner swap deal with Palestinians

Protest coincides with Cabinet meeting to discuss indirect negotiations for Gaza cease-fire, prisoner swap deal

Anadolu staff  | 07.01.2025 - Update : 07.01.2025
Scores of Israelis protest in Tel Aviv to demand prisoner swap deal with Palestinians

JERUSALEM

Scores of relatives of Israeli captives in Gaza demonstrated outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to demand a prisoner swap deal with Palestinians.

The protest coincided with a Cabinet meeting at the Kirya base, which houses the Defense Ministry headquarters, to discuss indirect negotiations to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Protesters closed one of the gates to the base, waving a large banner bearing the names of around 100 Israeli captives held in Gaza, according to Haaretz newspaper.

The Israeli opposition and families of the captives accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing efforts to reach a prisoner swap deal with Palestinian factions.

Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner exchange agreement have so far failed due to Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the war.

Israel holds over 10,300 Palestinians in its prisons, while around 100 Israelis are held by Hamas in Gaza. The Palestinian group says dozens of the Israeli captives had died in indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes on the enclave.

The Israeli army has continued a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed almost 46,000 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and 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.

*Writing by Betul Yilmaz

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