by Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage in Gaza lit bonfires that partially blocked traffic on a major Tel Aviv highway on Friday morning, in a sign of growing frustration over the government’s failure to bring the remaining hostages home.
Police officers detained seven protesters who had “engaged in disorderly conduct and unlawful behavior,” questioned them and then released them, police said in a statement. Police quickly cleared the highway and restored traffic flow before the start of the Israeli weekend.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, the main group advocating for the return of the hostages, said it had not organized the protest that blocked the Ayalon Highway and did not approve of it. Although there is broad support among Israelis for the campaign in Gaza, many have become increasingly exasperated by the lack of progress by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in returning the hostages home.
At a news conference Thursday, some relatives of captives accused Israel’s war cabinet of dragging its feet and called on the government to reach an international deal for the hostages. “Stop lying to us,” said Shir Siegel, whose father, Keith Siegel, 64, is among the hostages. “You’re not doing everything you can.”
Daniel Elgart, whose brother Itzik was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, told Israeli television on Friday that family members were willing to disrupt daily life, risking arrest and jail, to get their loved ones back.
“We will have to do what the government is not doing,” he said. “Maybe we will have to go ourselves and block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.”
Eli Shtivi, whose son, Idan, is hostage, announced Friday that he has gone on a hunger strike and urged other families to join him in camping outside Netanayahu’s home in Caesarea, where he said he would wait until the prime minister leaves. . to talk with him. The younger Mr. Shtivi was kidnapped at the Nova festival.
About 130 people are believed to remain captive in Gaza, out of more than 240 who Israeli officials say were kidnapped from homes and military bases during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7.
The Israeli military offensive in Gaza, now in its fourth month, has failed to secure the hostages’ freedom and there is no sign of a deal for them with Hamas. More than 100 hostages were freed during a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for some 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and calls are growing in Israel for another similar deal.
The protest in Tel Aviv took place a day after the youngest hostage, Kfir Bibas, who was kidnapped with his parents and 4-year-old brother from their home in Nir Oz, celebrated his first birthday. People in Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel released orange balloons in honor of the boy, a redhead, and lit candles on symbolic birthday cakes surrounded by gifts.
One protester briefly detained Friday was Ayala Metzger, whose 80-year-old father-in-law, Yoram Metzger, remains captive in Gaza. Mr. Metzger has diabetes, has difficulty walking due to a previous hip fracture, and has been without medication for three months, his relatives say.
His wife Tami, 78, who was also kidnapped from her home in Nir Oz, was freed in November.
“The time has come for my government and my prime minister to bring back my father-in-law and his friends,” Ayala Metzger said, according to an interview with the Walla news site. He attacked Israel’s withdrawal of some ground troops, adding: “The government is withdrawing forces from Gaza and forgetting about the hostages there.”
In a statement on Friday, Israeli police said that while the force “firmly defends the fundamental right to freedom of expression,” it would not tolerate threats to public order, “especially in times of war against a cruel terrorist organization.”
More protests were expected throughout the weekend. Several hundred protesters, mostly women, demonstrated Friday morning in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square, where cafes and restaurants filled with people starting the weekend, guarded by an unusually heavy police presence.
Protesters dragged a cage containing a performance artist wearing a dress with a large red stain, alluding to the sexual violence Hamas militants committed on October 7. Some 17 women, most of them young adults, remain held hostage. .
Protesters asked people in cafes to “put down their espressos” and come together. Many carried signs that read: “A deal now!”
