Thousands across Israel demand hostage swap, Netanyahu's dismissal
Protests in Tel Aviv, Netanya, Haifa, Qiryat Tivon junction demand early elections, reports Israeli media.
A man is forcefully detained during a demonstration against Netanyahu's government and a call for the release of hostages, June 16, 2024. / Photo: Reuters
Thousands protested Saturday across Israel to demand a hostage swap deal with Palestinian resistance in Gaza and the dismissal of the hawkish government led by warmonger Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that thousands in Tel Aviv, Netanya, Haifa and the Qiryat Tivon junction demanded the release of hostages in Gaza, the holding of early elections and the dismissal of the government.
Israeli army radio also reported that tens of thousands demonstrated in Kaplan Square in central Tel Aviv to demand the government conclude an immediate hostage swap deal with Palestinian resistance.
Protesters gather during an anti-government demonstration outside the defence ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Several protesters closed a section of Ayalon Street in central Tel Aviv, which police later reopened by using excessive force, according to the Israeli broadcasting authority.
Nearly 37,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli forces since last October, most of them women and children, and at least 85,200 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Protesters called for early elections, the return of the hostages held captive in Gaza, and an end to the ongoing war.
More than eight months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million forcefully displaced Palestinians had sought refuge from Tel Aviv's brutal war on Gaza before it was invaded on May 6.
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.