Israel-Gaza war: hostage families launch 5-day protest march to Netanyahu’s office
- Hundreds of demonstrators plan to make the 63km (39-mile) march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to demand ‘the immediate release of all the hostages’
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the possibility on Sunday of a deal to release hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza
Relatives of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel set out Tuesday on a five-day protest march to Jerusalem to demand action to bring their loved ones home.
Hundreds of demonstrators were to make the 63km (40-mile) march from Tel Aviv to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to demand “the immediate release of all the hostages”, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
Formed in the wake of the October 7 attacks on Israel, in which Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped about 240 more, according to Israeli authorities, the group works to keep the spotlight on the captives’ fate.
Yuval Haran, whose father, Avshalom, was killed and whose mother, Shoshan, was taken hostage along with six other family members, was behind the march initiative, organisers said.
Portraits of the hostages adorned black T-shirts and posters as more than 100 relatives and their supporters set out from the square outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the epicentre of the hostage protests.
“A deal for the hostages now,” read signs held by several demonstrators.