Families of Israeli Hostages Protest at Tel Aviv Airport, Demand Hostage Swap Deal
The following Sunday, relatives of Israeli kidnapped persons in the Gaza Strip staged a protest at the Liberty International Airport in Tel Aviv, where they demanded that the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip release agreement of the hostage-taking. This protest happened when Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was headed to Washington to meet with US administration officials, including President Joe Biden.
Using information obtained from the state-run public broadcaster KAAN, it was determined that dozens of families of the hostage, aided by their sympathetic supporters, gathered at an airport demanding the said swap deal in exchange with their dear ones. The presence of the police force characterised the demonstration due to the exercised reformation.
The rally came with new events in which Prime Minister Netanyahu allowed Tel Aviv’s negotiating team to travel to Qatar on Thursday for further discussions on a Gaza cease-fire and a Hamas prisoner exchange. Egypt, Qatar and the USA have been busy for months negotiating a truce and liberation of 120 hostages captured still in Gaza.
Even though the United Nations Security Council initiated the release of a resolution that insists on the stopping of all physical hostilities in the region, Israel has been receiving a lot of criticism from the international community for its continued military action towards Gaza that began on October 7 in response to a Hamas attack. Local Palestinian health organisations put the death toll at approximately 38,889 women and children, and over 89,768 have been injured since then.
Gaza, after nine months of conflict, has been flattened seriously, necessary infrastructures are destroyed, and the deficit in access to food, water and medical supplies remains severely affected by the blockade. The International Court of Justice has accused Israel of genocide and recently ordered an immediate halt to its military actions in Rafah. In this town, more than a million Palestinians fled before the invasion on May 6th.
The unfurling of them is an epitome of what the families delivered to the Ben Gurion Airport, showing that desperation is lurking within Israelis as the war continues. Their calls for a hostage swap deal bring to the surface the human aspect and torture that people who have their loved ones kidnapped undergo. It also focuses on the element of demanding action and solution to the problem and suffering in the Gazan strip by not only the Israelis but also the global society. While PM Netanyahu is preparing the state’s visit to Washington, the focus on the state’s steps towards peace-making and the hostages’ release aggravates the necessity to view diplomacy as a critical strategy.
The position remains somewhat uneasy, as neither side relents on aspirations and the organisations of the international community do not cease their attempts to achieve a victory in the conflict and release of the hostages.
