Thousands of Israelis protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza reached the six-month mark.
Scores of people converged at a Tel Aviv crossroads renamed “Democracy Square” since mass protests against controversial judicial reforms last year. Rallies were also held in other cities, with Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid taking part in one in Kfar Saba ahead of his departure for talks in Washington.
BREAKING | Lies, deception, and fabrication, even to their own audience and people.Israeli police wrongfully accuse protester of hitting and breaking a policewoman’s nose during Tel Aviv demonstrations.
Videos emerge revealing the truth and proving the protester’s innocence… pic.twitter.com/GqIyubrjYR
— Fighter_4_Humanity (@Fighter_4_Human) April 7, 2024
‘Haven’t learnt anything’
“They haven’t learnt anything, they haven’t changed,” he said at that rally, according to AFP. “Until we send them home, they won’t give this country a chance to move forward.” Israeli media said clashes had broken out between protesters and police at the Tel Aviv rally and police said one protester had been arrested.
Arrests and Car Ramming
Tel Aviv’s massive anti-government rally saw some demonstrators skirmish with police, with at least five arrests. According to The Times of Israel (TOI), there was also a car ramming in the city that injured five demonstrators. This incident drew broad condemnations and concerns over deepening societal tensions. The protesters in Tel Aviv were joined by families of Gaza hostages and their supporters.
Earlier, the army announced that troops had recovered the body of a hostage abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack and later murdered in captivity in the Gaza Strip. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that charging the ramming was “the direct result of the rising incitement from the government.” “They will not be deter us and or stop us from protesting until the hostages return and this terrible government falls,” Lapid was quoted as saying by TOI.
Read More: Israeli Military Extracts Body Of Hostage Elad Katzir Killed In Gaza Captivity
The recovery of Elad Katzir’s body brings to 12 the number of bodies of hostages which the army says it has brought home from Gaza during the war. The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 33,137 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. About 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage by militants on October 7. The army says 129 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead. Demonstrators are to take to the streets again on Sunday, with a rally planned in Jerusalem.
(With agency inputs)
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