Thousands of Israelis took to the streets to demand a ceasefire agreement with Israel's main labor union, demanding a ceasefire. Six other prisoners Found dead forum in Gaza.
Battalions of protesters and security forces reportedly clashed on Sunday evening, in one of the largest anti-government demonstrations in Israel since the war in Gaza began nearly 11 months ago.
Protesters chanted “Now! Agora!” and called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to go to a ceasefire with the Palestinian Hamas movement to resolve the remaining issues.
Several Israelis blocked roads in Tel Aviv and demonstrated outside Netanyahu's office in West Jerusalem.
A statement issued by the Refugee and Families of Missing Persons Forum, which represents the families of two prisoners held in Gaza, said the deaths of two of the six refugees were a direct result of Netanyahu's failure to reach an agreement to stop the fighting and track down their loved ones home.
“We were all killed in the past few days, after surviving 11 months of abuse, torture and violence against Hamas prisoners,” the forum said.
Gil Diekman, a cousin of Carmel Gat, whose body was among those returned, urged the Israelis to put more pressure on their government. “We are on the road and the country is coming to you, everyone is coming. We can still be saved,” Diekman wrote in X.
Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu was afraid to defend the political parties in his government against any concessions to Hamas.
He said: “The parts (parties) are not there for your rulers.”
Levy stressed that within Netanyahu's Likud party, or the larger ruling group, Netanyahu has significant power over the party or supports it.
“So the challenges from within the government are very limited,” he added. “The real and only challenge is the streets, but… I give up a lot to play.”
The Union calls on General Gref
Meanwhile, for the first time since October 7, Israel's largest trade union federation, the Histadrut, has called in a powerful general to pressure the government to accept a ceasefire agreement.
The union said Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main air transport hub, would be closed starting at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on the second day, with the aim of disrupting or disrupting important sectors of the Israeli economy, including banking and health.
“The agreement is more important than anything else,” said Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David. “We are receiving body bags instead of an agreement.”
She said she had the backing of Israel's top manufacturers and high-tech businessmen. The coalition of some of the most powerful voices in the Israeli economy has reflected a range of public anger relatively late in the lives of two of the six.
Municipal services in Israel's economic hub, Tel Aviv, will also be closed during part of the second exhibition.
The Manufacturers Association of Israel said it supported the attack and accused the government of failing to “morally merit” bringing the prisoners back to life.
“Without two auditors, we will not be able to end the war, we will not be able to rehabilitate ourselves as a society, and we will not be able to begin rehabilitating the Israeli economy,” said Ron Tomer, the association's chairman.
Israeli opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid said he either supports or attacks.
Truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas have been ongoing for months, with many blaming Netanyahu for not being able to reach an agreement.
Israeli army dead minus 40,738 people and 94,154 people His war in Gaza Since October 7, an estimated 1,139 people have been killed in Israel during Hamas-led attacks on October 7, and the movement has arrested nearly 250 people.
The Israeli military acknowledged the difficulty of rescuing the dozens of remaining prisoners and said that only an agreement could plan for a large-scale return.
