Conflicts & War

Hostage families storm Israeli parliament meeting as protests mount

Jerusalem, Jan 22 (EFE).- Families of Hamas hostages on Monday broke into an Israeli parliament Finance Committee meeting, demanding that the government do more to free their relatives being held by the Islamist group in Gaza.

The protest is part of the growing domestic dissent against the Israeli government’s handling of the hostage issue, over 100 days after they were kidnapped.

“You will not sit here while our children die,” the protesters screamed in the meeting room, after forcing their way through the security cordons, local media reported.

“Every day they die there and every day it is announced that another hostage was killed. It simply can’t go on like that and we came to the Knesset (to demand) that they get up and do something. Nobody will silence us,” Noa Rahamim, one of the protesters said.

Earlier, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum issued a statement, insisting that the “hostages have no more time” and urging parliament to prioritize hostages’ release.

This came a day after the demonstrators staged a sit-in protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, demanding the government to secure the release of remaining hostages.

More protests are expected in the Israeli capital and other cities late on Monday.

In a meeting with the relatives on Monday, Netanyahu stated that there was “no real Hamas proposal” regarding the hostages amid reports of a new round of negotiations with the Islamist group.

On Sunday, Israeli media reported that Qatar and Egypt were attempting to facilitate a new round of negotiations, potentially including a ceasefire, the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for all Israeli hostages within 90 days.

According to the proposed plan, Israel will allow freedom of movement in Gaza, cease the use of drones, and double the amount of aid allowed into the war-torn Strip.

A seven-day ceasefire in November resulted in the release of 105 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Of the 240 people kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack, around 136 hostages remain in captivity, with around 27 of them believed to have been killed, according to Israeli intelligence. EFE

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