TEL AVIV: Israeli protesters chanting “we will not give up” marched in their thousands through Tel Aviv on Sunday, the second consecutive day of stepped-up pressure for a deal to free prisoners in Gaza.

The demonstrators want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a truce and prisoner-release deal or else step down.

The nationwide “disruption day” began at 6:29am. Demonstrator Yoni Peleg called it “a last cry out for help from the entire country to help us end the war, help us get our people.” “It’s time for them to step down, take responsibility, and let someone else try to fix what they’ve ruined here,” he said.

They stopped traffic at an intersection in Tel Aviv, calling for the government to secure a deal for the prisoners. Israel says 116 people remain captive, including 42 the military says are dead.

President Isaac Herzog says ‘absolute majority supports a deal for prisoners’ return’

“Enough is enough,” said Orly Nativ, a 57-year-old social worker from Tel Aviv who joined the flag-wielding demonstrators.

“The government doesn’t care what the people think, and they don’t do anything to bring back our sisters and brothers from Gaza,” Nativ said. In Jerusalem, police stepped up security around Netanyahu’s residence before a planned rally there.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose post is largely ceremonial, said on social media platform X that an “absolute majority supports a hostage deal. The state’s duty is to return them.”

War ‘a failure’

Large protests, also demanding elections, have taken place across Israel’s commercial hub every Saturday night, with smaller ones throughout the country.

On Saturday night, anti-government demonstrators blocked a highway in Tel Aviv. Some clashed with police on horseback before officers deployed water canon to force people from the road.

Protest organisers estimated around 176,000 people had by 9pm filled a Tel Aviv intersection which they call “Democracy Square”. That would make it one of the biggest demonstrations since the war began.

Earlier, at a separate rally for the prisoners, relatives made emotional appeals for a deal to bring home their missing loved ones.

In a crowd dispersed between art exhibitions evoking the missing men, women and children, some held up signs saying refusing deal would be a death blow. “Our message to the government is very simple. There is a deal on the table. Take it,” said Yehuda Cohen, father of kidnapped soldier Nimrod Cohen. Others were more morose.

“This war is a failure,” said Inbar R, a 27-year-old tech worker in Tel Aviv who did not want to give her full last name.

“The only thing it has done is to make the world hate us.” The protests come as indirect truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas have regained momentum after months of failed diplomacy.

Netanyahu has consistently opposed any truce deal that allows Hamas to survive.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2024