In pics | 'Bring them home now': Israel govt under pressure as thousands march in Jerusalem

Tens of thousands of families of Israeli hostages and their supporters arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday (Nov 18) ending their five-day march to confront the government and put pressure on them for the immediate release of captives held by Hamas in Gaza.

It is estimated that around 20,000 demonstrators, including the friends and families of around 240 hostages that were taken by the Palestinian militant group, according to Israeli officials, following the attacks on October 7 took part in the five-day march which ended in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office. 

Thousands of marchers joined the procession along the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway to put pressure on the government "to do everything they can to bring the hostages back," Noam Alon, 25 told news agency Reuters, while clutching a photograph of his abducted girlfriend, Inbar. 

"We are expecting them to meet with us, we are expecting them to tell us how they are going to do it," he added. "We cannot wait any longer, so we are demand(ing) them to do that now, to pay any price to bring the hostages back."

 

Since the beginning of this year, Israel has witnessed massive, and often violent protests where tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets week after week to demonstrate against Netanyahu government's proposed judicial overhaul. 

This time around, many Israelis blame their government for being blindsided by the Hamas attacks on southern Israel, on October 7. Additionally, many ministers from the Netanyahu's right-wing coalition have been heckled and criticised since the beginning of the war. 

According to Israeli officials, around 240 people - from babies to grandparents and including foreign nationals - are believed to be in Gaza after being taken as hostages by the Palestinian militant group when they attacked villages and army bases in which 1,200 people were also killed.

There was a glimmer of hope for the families of the hostages, on Sunday (Nov 19) as Israel and Hamas were said to be at the brink of closing an agreement to reach a five-day pause in fighting in exchange for the return of women and children held hostage by Hamas in the blockaded Gaza Strip, Washington Post had reported. 

The report claimed that under a six-page agreement, all parties in the conflict would freeze the state of war for at least five days during which dozens of hostages among a total of 239 will be released in batches every 24 hours.

But White House later clarified that Washington has not reached any such deal but the Biden administration will continue to "work hard" to secure one. 

"The challenges that remain in the negotiations are very minor compared to the bigger challenges, they are more logistical, they are more practical," said Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, on Sunday (Nov 19), during a press conference with European Union's (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. 

"The deal is going through ups and downs from time to time throughout the last few weeks. But I think that you know, I'm now more confident that we are close enough to reach a deal that can bring people safely back to their homes, whether they are the hostages on Hamas side or whatever the exchange that will happen, will take place from the Israeli side," he added.

"The deal is going through ups and downs from time to time throughout the last few weeks," Prime Minister Al Thani also told reporters. 

Among those who marched to Jerusalem was opposition leader Yair Lapid, who has been mostly supportive of the war but has demanded the resignation of the Israeli PM. Earlier this week, Lapid called for Netanyahu to resign over what he called the government's poor handling of the war against Hamas.

"Netanyahu needs to go now during the fighting," Lapid told Channel 12 news, on Wednesday. Notably, this was the first time that he has openly called for the Israeli PM's ouster, since the beginning of the war. 

"We will sit under another candidate from the Likud," he added, claiming that he was in discussions with leaders of the ruling party on the subject. "There are many people there who understand the country is going to a bad place."

He also said how Netanyahu's "government isn’t functioning" and that he "cannot continue to be prime minister. We cannot allow ourselves to conduct a prolonged campaign with a prime minister that the public has no faith in."

Early days of the war, Hamas had threatened to execute hostages in retaliation for Israeli air strikes on Gaza, and has since claimed that some hostages have been killed in attacks on Gaza. This has made campaigners and relatives anxious who have since called on the Israeli government to speed up any prisoner swap. 

They have also expressed their frustration with Netanyahu's insistence that discretion is required around the Qatari- and Egyptian-mediated negotiations. 

"It's impossible that there are 240 kidnapped people and the government -- our government -- isn't talking to (the relatives), isn't telling them what's going on, what's on the table, what's on offer, what are the reasons for and against. Nothing," campaigner Stevie Kerem told Reuters.