Protesters calling for release of hostages again block roads

Demonstrators calling on the government to reach agreement with Hamas on the return of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023 have blocked roads around the country today and caused disruption in several cities. Demonstrations have also been held outside the homes of government ministers.

In a declaration by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Itzik Horn, father of Yair Horn who was freed after almost 500 days in captivity, and of Eitan Horn, who is still being held in the Gaza Strip, said, “We face a danger that we never believed would happen. A danger from within. The government of Israel has consciously decided on a military campaign that, according to all assessments by military sources, will lead to the death of my son Eitan and the deaths of other hostages and of hundreds of our soldier sons.

“How have we reached this situation? This is not the country we built, this is not the country to which we proudly immigrated. We are at the height of another deliberate campaign to torpedo an agreement to return the hostages. To our eternal shame we have lost our way. A government that, with heads held high, abandons its citizens and overturns the moral basis of the sanctity of life and mutual responsibility. Pressing ahead with the plan to conquer Gaza while there is an agreement on the table for the prime minister’s signature is a knife to the hearts of the families and the entire nation. Join the struggle today. Only the people will bring them home.”

Following reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not bring the latest proposal of the intermediaries for a ceasefire and the return of some of the hostages, to which Hamas has responded positively, before today’s session of the security cabinet, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement: “It is highly regrettable that on a day on which the people of Israel are taking to the streets en masse in a clear demand for the return of all the hostages and an end to the war, Netanyahu continues with the campaign to torpedo the agreement, completely contrary to the will of the people. The government has no public mandate to continue with the unending war and the sacrifice of our dear ones on the altar of political considerations.”

Senior government sources said, “Hamas’s response is a trick.” They said that the terrorist organization had expressed readiness to release half the hostages only because it believes that a ceasefire will lead to the end of the war while it remains in control in the Gaza Strip. The sources stressed that the coordination on this issue between Israel and the US was “hermetic”. “There will be no partial deal,” they said.

Separately, the Australian government has given the Iranian ambassador and other Iranian diplomats seven days to leave the country after its intelligence service Asio concluded that the Iranian government was behind a recent spate of antisemitic attacks in Australia, including arson at two synagogues.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on August 26, 2025.

Source link