Israeli protesters urging Gaza deal block roads

Protests aimed at pressuring the Israeli government to reach a hostage deal with Hamas began across the country on Sunday, with demonstrators blocking roads and picketing at the homes of government ministers.

Protests began at 6:29 am (0329 GMT), corresponding to the time of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel, according to Israeli media.

The demonstrators took to the streets, blocking rush hour traffic at major intersections across the country. They briefly set fire to tires on the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway before police cleared the way.

Efforts to secure a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza after nine months of war have gained momentum in recent days, with officials expressing optimism but saying gaps remain between the sides.

Gaza health authorities say more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive launched in response to Hamas’ attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Small groups with megaphones and banners also protested outside the houses of a number of ministers and coalition lawmakers.

“Total failure! Total failure!” a small crowd yelled outside the house of cabinet minister Ron Dermer, a member of Netanyahu’s inner circle.

At Kibbutz Or Haner, near the border with Gaza, protesters hung a black balloon for every person killed in the attack and a yellow balloon for every hostage still held in Gaza.

Some Israelis disagree with the protesters’ aims, and are pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to spurn a deal and keep fighting until all the country’s objectives have been met.

Netanyahu on Hamas-Israel deal

Any Gaza ceasefire deal must allow Israel to resume fighting until its objectives are met, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, as talks over a U.S. plan aimed at ending the nine-month-old war were expected to restart.

Five days after Hamas accepted a key part of the plan, two officials from the Palestinian militant group said the group was awaiting Israel’s response to its latest proposal.

Netanyahu was scheduled to hold consultations late on Sunday on the next steps in negotiating the three-phase plan that was presented in May by U.S. President Joe Biden and is being mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

It aims to end the war and free around 120 Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.

Hamas has dropped a key demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before it would sign an agreement. Instead, it said it would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout the six-week first phase, a Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday on condition of anonymity.

But Netanyahu said he insisted the deal must not prevent Israel from resuming fighting until its war objectives are met. Those goals were defined at the start of the war as dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, as well as returning the hostages.

“The plan that has been agreed to by Israel and which has been welcomed by President Biden will allow Israel to return hostages without infringing on the other objectives of the war,” Netanyahu said.

The deal, he said, must also prohibit weapons smuggling to Hamas via the Gaza-Egypt border and should not allow for thousands of armed militants to return to northern Gaza.