Israeli rally participants demand to return hostages

Speeches at the weekly Tel Aviv rally demanding the return of hostages have been held in Gaza.

The speeches took a more strongly political tone than ever before on February 3 night, with speakers accusing the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being indifferent to the hostages’ fate and Netanyahu of being guided by personal considerations and stalling to avoid investigations and elections, according to The Times of Israel.

At previous rallies at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, organisers and speakers had adhered to a nonpartisan line, drawing a clear distinction between their movement, which is centered on retrieving hostages in Gaza, and anti-government protests that took place elsewhere at the same time.

This departure from previous policy was evident at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum’s weekly rally, its 17th, which thousands attended.

The rally on Hostages Square featured multiple speeches by relatives of hostages who called on the government to retrieve the hostages, or “bring them back now in a deal,” as Carmit Palti-Katzir, whose brother Elad was abducted from Nir Oz, said.

Some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel on October 7, murdering some 1,200 people and abducting another 253. More than 100 hostages were released in a prisoner swap that took place during a weeklong ceasefire in November.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 27,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli Defence Forces’ (IDF) military campaign to topple the terrorists’ regime and retrieve the hostages. Its figures cannot be verified and include gunmen and civilians. The IDF says it has killed at least 10,000 Hamas terrorists in its war in Gaza; over 220 IDF soldiers have been killed in the fighting.