Relatives of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel set out Tuesday on a five-day protest march to Jerusalem to demand action to bring their loved ones home.
Hundreds of demonstrators were to make the 63-kilometer (40-mile) march from Tel Aviv to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to demand “the immediate release of all the hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
Formed in the wake of the October 7 attacks on Israel, in which Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped about 240 more, according to Israeli authorities, the group works to keep the spotlight on the captives’ fate.
Yuval Haran, whose father, Avshalom, was killed and whose mother, Shoshan, was taken hostage along with six other family members, was behind the march initiative, organisers said.
Portraits of the hostages adorned black T-shirts and posters as more than 100 relatives and their supporters set out from the square outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the epicentre of the hostage protests.
“A deal for the hostages now,” read signs held by several demonstrators.
Recent days have seen reports surface about negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Netanyahu raised the possibility of a deal to release the hostages in an interview with NBC on Sunday.
On Monday, Hamas’s military wing accused Israeli authorities of dragging their feet in Qatari-mediated negotiations about the possible release of dozens of hostages in exchange for “200 children and 75 women” held in Israeli prisons.
In a statement, the Forum demanded the government disclose what “demands” it has “placed on the table” as part of a deal to release all of the hostages held in Gaza.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military confirmed the death of Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier held captive by Hamas in Gaza, a day after Hamas released images claiming to show her “killed in an Israeli bombing.”
Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip has killed 11,240 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 4,630 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
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