Thousands of Israelis stage anti-government protests calling for new elections

Thousands of Israeli demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday, calling for new elections and demanding the government do more to bring hostages home in the Gaza Strip, the latest attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. round of protests.

As the war in Gaza enters its seventh month, protests continue amid growing anger over the government’s treatment of the 133 Israeli hostages still held by the Islamist movement Hamas.

Surveys show that a majority of Israelis blame Netanyahu for security failures that led to Hamas militants launching devastating attacks on communities in southern Israel on October 7.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister has repeatedly ruled out snap elections, which polls suggest he will lose, and said going to the polls during the war would only benefit Hamas.

Yalon Pikman, 58, who participated in a march in Tel Aviv, said: “We are here to protest against this government, which is dragging us down month after month; before October 7, 10 After July 7th, we were in a downward spiral.”

According to Israeli statistics, Hamas-led gunmen captured 253 people in the attack on October 7, killing about 1,200 people. Some hostages were released in a November truce, but efforts to reach another agreement appear to have stalled.

Netanyahu has pledged to continue Israel’s operation in Gaza, which local health authorities say has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, until all hostages are brought home and Hamas is destroyed.

Last week’s Iranian drone and missile attacks on Israel diverted attention from the conflict in Gaza, and for many relatives of the remaining hostages there is a growing sense that time is running out.

“My mother was very strong,” said Sharone Lifschitz, 52. “She kept us together.” Her mother, Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, died in November One of the hostages was released, but her father, Oded, remained imprisoned.

“But as time went on, the weight of what was happening – the failure of those who could have returned them – the weight of it all came to weigh more and more on her shoulders. And hers Hope is waning too.”