Hundreds of thousands of Israelis demonstrate for the liberation of the hostages

According to the organizers, hundreds of thousands of people asked for an end to the Gaza war and the release of the hostages during a large demonstration in Israel. The more than 350,000 participants of the rally in the Coastal metropolis Tel Aviv have a clear message, it said in the evening: “The government (from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) has to sign the agreement that is currently on the table. The whole nation demands an end to the war and the return of all hostages.”

The Islamist terrorist organization Hamas had stated a week ago that it had approved a new proposal by the intermediary states of Egypt and Qatar for a ceasefire, which also provides for the liberation of some of the hostages. So far, Israel’s political leadership has not been given the proposal. Even at a renewed meeting of the Israeli security cabinet for the approval of the military operating plans to take the city of Gaza, the proposal for a ceasefire, according to Israeli media, was not an issue.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar now meets his US colleague Marco Rubio in Washington. The US specialist Steve Witkoff meanwhile announced a “big meeting” in the White House under the direction of US President Donald Trump in the US broadcaster Fox News, in which a “comprehensive plan” for the administration of the Gaza strip should be discussed after the war. Witkoff did not give details. One believes that the conflict can be enclosed before the end of the year. The United States is Israel’s most important ally.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army presented the first results of an investigation into the attack on the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, in which 20 people were killed, including five journalists. According to the army, the attack aimed to destroy a surveillance camera installed by the Hamas. The camera was placed on the clinic site to observe Israeli troops and ultimately commit terrorist activities against them. The troops would have destroyed the camera and thus removed the “threat”, the army said.

The preliminary examination of the Israeli army does not show which ammunition was used in the attack. According to Israeli media reports, tank floors are said to have been used. Eyewitnesses reported that there was initially an attack on the fourth floor in the reception building of the hospital in Chan Junis, in which the journalists were. As a paramedic and civil protection employee, there was another attack on the site.

According to the announcement, Israel’s chief of staff Ejal Zamir ordered several open points to investigate – including the process of approval of the attack and the ammunition used. The outrage for the incident in Chan Junis was internationally great. Some of the journalists killed worked for international media. According to the Palestinian information, paramedics also died in the attack. Zamir regretted regret about civilian victims. Israel’s army aims their missions exclusively against military goals.

The Hamas has used the Nasser Hospital for its terrorist activities since the beginning of the Gaza War almost two years ago, the Israeli military said. The investigation also showed that six of the people killed in the attack were terrorists, one of whom is said to have been involved in the attack of October 7, 2023 in Israel. The information could not be checked independently. In the attack, terrorists from Hamas and other Islamist groups killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 others as hostages.

The forum of the hostage members had proclaimed a nationwide protest day under the motto “Israel stands together” in order to draw attention to the situation of hostages. There were demonstrations and street blocks during the day. The organizers accuse the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to extend the war for political reasons and to sabotage an agreement for their exemption. “I don’t want to get my son back in a corpse bag,” said Ofir Braslavski, whose son Rome was kidnapped on October 7, 2023.

Terrorists recently released a propaganda video in which Rome, who is also a German citizen, was emaciated and seen. “A month has passed since then and nothing is being done,” said Braslavski. According to media reports, Prime Minister Netanyahu was only available for a comprehensive agreement, i.e. an agreement that provides for the release of all hostages at once and ends the war on Israel’s conditions. He should no longer strive for a ceasefire, during which only a part of the hostages are free, even under the pressure of his ultra -right coalition partners.

Netanyahu also made this position clear at the new meeting of the security council, it said in reports. He captures a comprehensive agreement and drives the plans to take the city of Gaza to put the Hamas under pressure, to meet Israel’s demands. This includes the disarmament and removal of Hamas as a military and governing force as well as Israel’s security control via Gaza. A further meeting of the security cabinet is planned for Sunday.

Federal Minister of Development Reem Alabali Radovan, meanwhile, wants to speak to the hostages of the hostages on the second day of her Middle East trip in Israel. A total of 50 hostages are still captured in the Gaza Strip, 20 of which are said to be alive. In addition, the SPD politician wants to find out about the situation of Christians in the Palestinian areas. The minister planned, among other things, a conversation with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. He had visited the Gaza Strip in July after an attack by the Israeli army on a Catholic Church.