Israeli protesters block highways, call for ceasefire to send hostages back

TEL AVIV, Israel – Nine months since the Gaza conflict began, Israeli protesters blocked highways across the country on Sunday, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call for a ceasefire to return to normal. I am insisting on. Held hostage by Hamas.

The demonstrations come as long-running efforts to trigger a ceasefire come after Hamas abandoned a key call for Israeli loyalty to end the conflict.

The militant group is still seeking a permanent ceasefire, while Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is destroyed.

Sunday’s “day of disengagement” began at 6:29 a.m., the same day Hamas militants fired the first rocket toward Israel in the October 7 attack that sparked the conflict.

Protestors blocked primary roads and demonstrated outside the homes of government ministers.

Similar to the border with Gaza, Israeli protesters released 1,500 black and yellow balloons to represent fellow voters who were killed and abducted.

Hannah Golan said she came to protest “the devastating abandonment of our communities by our government.” He further said, “It has been nine months since this dark day, and still no one in our government takes responsibility for it.”

Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 community members and took 250 others hostage in the horrific attack.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s counterattacks, according to the Palestinian health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its territory.

About 120 hostages remained hostage, with more than 100 hostages later released under the November ceasefire resolution.

Israel has already concluded that more than 40 other hostages have been killed, and there are fears that number will rise as the war drags on.

The US has rallied support for the proposal for a phased ceasefire, through which Hamas would free other detainees in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Although Hamas wants a promise from mediators that the conflict will end if talks drag on over freeing the last group of hostages, Israel wants the freedom to restart fighting this week.

Netanyahu has additionally said that Israel is committed to destroying Hamas’s military and governance skills, and that it could resume the conflict later to free the hostages.

Israel continues its fight against Palestinian militants in Gaza after months of bombing and Gaza Strip operations that have devastated the territory’s major cities and driven most of its country of 2.3 million into a state of constant terror. Have been displaced more than once.

On Sunday, Israel issued unused evacuation orders for parts of Gaza City, which was heavily bombed and mass evacuated at the beginning of the war.

Our bodies were found protected by palms

The Nasser Clinic in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza said the bodies of three Palestinians were recovered from the branch of the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

An observer at the hospital said they were handcuffed, and an Associated Press reporter observed some of the bodies holding fixed palms.

Abdel-Hadi Ghabein, the uncle of one of the dead, noted that they were rushing to maintain supplies of humanitarian aid and trade shipments during the crossing.

He said that on Saturday he saw that they had been captured by foot soldiers and that the bodies bore marks of beatings, one of which had a broken leg.

The Israeli military said it was monitoring the reports.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been detained since the conflict began, and many of those who have been released, as well as some Israelis who worked in detention facilities, say detainees were tortured and held in harsh conditions. Kept.

The Israeli government has denied ill-treatment of prisoners.

Meanwhile Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Sunday killed at least 13 Palestinians, including the acting secretary of the de facto Hamas-run government.

According to Civil Defense, a primary response team under the Hamas-run government, Ihab al-Ghussein was one of four people killed in the crash at a school-shelter site in Gaza City.

Hamas mourned his loss in a statement and said an accident in the previous war had destroyed his territory and killed his wife and daughter.

The Israeli military said it had struck a terrorist compound “in the area of ​​a school building”, as well as a nearby Hamas weapons manufacturing facility in Gaza City, and later took steps to minimize harm to civilians.

Israel builds trade ties with Hezbollah

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said early Sunday it had fired dozens of projectiles toward northern Israel, targeting areas more than 20 miles from the border, deeper than the maximum number of launches allowed.

Israel’s national rescue carrier reported that a 28-year-old man was seriously injured.

Another attack on the border left three community members injured, one seriously, according to the Galilee Clinical Center.

Israeli media reported that the seriously injured man was once a US citizen. Once prompt confirmation from the Army was refused.

After the conflict started in Gaza, Hezbollah started rocket and mortar attacks.

The scope and severity of the attacks and Israel’s retaliatory attacks have increased in recent weeks, raising fears of an all-out conflict that could have tragic consequences for communities on all sides of the border.

Mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have recently stepped up their efforts to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas.

Hezbollah has said it will stop its attacks if there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

The agreement reached by Hamas on Saturday could overshadow the first lull in fighting since November and set the stage for further talks, although both sides still cautioned that a resolution is not yet guaranteed.

Washington’s phased proposal would begin with a “full and complete” six-week ceasefire authorization through which sick, sick and female hostages could be released in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners.

During those 42 days, Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow the displaced community to return to their homes in northern Gaza.

War-weary Palestinians in the Gaza Strip seemed pessimistic, after previous instances had seen both sides end in a resolution.

“We have suffered for nine months,” said Heba Radi, a mother of six who lives in a tent in the central city of Deir al-Balah, where she has been sheltering since fleeing her home in Gaza City. “The ceasefire has become a distant dream.”