JERUSALEM “Bring them home”, “Government, do your job”, rang out on the highway leading to Jerusalem, as around 30,000 people marched to the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu office.
Exactly six weeks have passed since the terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israel, and the organization still has around 240 hostages in Gaza.
According to information leaked to the public, small steps forward and backward have been taken in the negotiations between Hamas and Israel, mainly mediated by Qatar. In six weeks, a total of only five hostages have been taken out of Gaza.
Because of this Jasmin, 22, joined thousands of protesters in a five-day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem organized by family members of the hostages. He says that Hamas kidnapped his friend Omer’s while doing military service in the vicinity of Gaza.
– We haven’t heard anything from Omer since the seventh of October. This is a really difficult time for Israelis, says Jasmin.
“The hostage could have been our child”
Ylen met in Jerusalem Yael Ofeck holding a portrait of a young boy. It’s his cousin’s son.
– Hamas took my cousin Dror’shis son and daughter from their home in Kibbutz Be’er and shot the children’s mother, probably in front of their eyes, Ofeck says.
The eldest of the family, an 18-year-old son, was spared from the attack because he was not at home.
– We hope that he was not the only survivor of the family. He and the other children need their father now, Ofeck says.
Families on the front lines of the march are scheduled to meet with a minister of Israel’s emergency government Benny Gantz as well as an observer of the state of emergency government Gadi Eisenkot. Many of the protesters interviewed criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government. So does Ofeck – like other protesters, he demands better information from the government regarding the situation of the hostages.
– It would be time for the government to go home now and let other people take the reins. I don’t trust them, he says.
A resident of Galilee in the northern parts of Israel Shaiko says that the release of the hostages should be at the top of the government’s agenda. He has participated in the march with his partner and five-month-old daughter.
Several of Shaiko’s acquaintances, such as a colleague and childhood friends, are among the hostages. According to him, the uncertainty is excruciating.
– We can only hope that they are not tortured. This is very difficult, memories and dark thoughts come out in quiet moments.
Many who participated in the march say that the attack by Hamas has fundamentally undermined their sense of security.
The attack touches almost everyone in some way, from near Tel Aviv Shiran Kalaora says.
– It’s not just about the children of these families, our children could very well have been in their place, says Kalaora.
“Civilians suffer needlessly on both sides”
Although Israel has had the support of the United States and the sympathies of Western leaders, many Israelis interviewed by feel that their country is left alone in a hostage situation.
According to the Palestinian authorities, more than 12,000 people have died in Gaza in Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks. In Israel, about 1,200 people died in the attack by Hamas on October 7, and in addition, about 50 soldiers have died in the ground operation in Gaza.
Ofeck says that as a result of the war, many innocent civilians on both sides suffered needlessly.
– The suffering of the Palestinians does not take away our suffering. There are children, teenagers, women and elderly prisoners in Gaza, says Ofeck.
Galilean Shaiko says that he does not trust the motives of the current Israeli government to carry out a ground attack on Gaza. For example, several human rights organizations have accused Israel of excessive use of force in the densely populated Gaza Strip.
– I am also sorry for the civilians of Gaza. I hope that the government acts with the right intentions, says Shaiko.