Large protests organised by hostage families are planned across Israel on Saturday to mark 700 days since Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
The gathering marking the attack, which killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage, is set to take place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the southern city of Kiryat Gat.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which campaigns for the release of hostages captured and taken by Hamas into the Gaza Strip, posted on X that this weekend marks an “incomprehensible 700 days that our loved ones have been held in captivity.”
Out of the 251 Israelis forcibly taken into Gaza, 48 are still believed to be held in the Strip. At least 20 are thought to be alive, after some were released in various ceasefire and hostage deals.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum called for both Israel and Hamas to “sit down at the negotiating table” and called on Israel to abandon its proposed plan of taking over Gaza City, which it said posed a “real threat to hostages, both the living and deceased.”
Israel’s security cabinet in August approved plans to take over Gaza City, which it says is a Hamas stronghold where militants have created a vast tunnel network. At least 60,000 reservists have been called up to support the plan, which has sparked criticism at home and abroad.
Demonstrators have claimed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet have failed to secure a ceasefire deal and are instead intensifying the offensive in Gaza.
A group of at least 600 reservists have refused to serve again in the offensive, accusing Netanyahu of prolonging the war for political purposes and failing to reach a hostage deal.
“Netanyahu’s ongoing war of aggression needlessly puts our own hostages in danger and has wreaked havoc on the fabric of Israeli society, while at the same time killing, maiming and starving an entire population of Gazan civilians,” Max Kresch, a member of the recently formed Soldiers for the Hostages group, told reporters.
Netanyahu said the war will continue until all hostages are returned and Hamas surrenders.
“We are facing the decisive stage,” Netanyahu said in a video statement addressed to troops. “With God’s help, together we will win.”
Ceasefire stalls
Hamas released a statement late Wednesday saying that it was open to returning all 48 hostages it still holds in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all of Gaza, the opening of border crossings and a start to the process of rebuilding the Strip, which has been all but levelled in the war.
Netanyahu’s office dismissed the offer as “spin”. It said that the war would continue until all the hostages are returned, Hamas is disarmed, and Israel has full security control of the territory, with civilian administration delegated to others.
Talks on a temporary ceasefire that would have seen some of the hostages returned broke down when US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff walked away from the deal, blaming Hamas.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians, said that 64,231 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which experts say has pushed the Strip and its population close to famine.
Additional sources • AP