MADRID 18 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Dozens of relatives of those kidnapped during the attacks of October 7, 2023 who are still held in the Gaza Strip demonstrated this Monday in front of the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to demand an agreement that contemplates their release. .
“The hostages will not survive the freezing cold in the Gaza tunnels,” said protest organizers, who stressed that “while Netanyahu and his team are busy trying to divert public opinion, 101 hostages die in impossible conditions,” according to the newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’.
In recent months, there have been dozens of mobilizations to demand that Netanyahu and his Government – made up of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties – take diplomatic action with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to achieve the release of the hostages they are still holding. in the enclave.
However, Netanyahu has stressed that Israel will continue to prioritize the military offensive against the enclave, despite criticism that most of the hostages released to date were handed over within the framework of a temporary truce agreement agreed in November 2023.
In this sense, Ofer Angrest, brother of a soldier who is still held in Gaza, asked this Monday the parliamentarians of the Education, Culture and Sports commission if he should join the ranks knowing that the authorities “will do everything necessary” to save him in case it came to that extreme.
“I beg you to bring my brother Matan back. He will soon turn 22 and I hope he returns before he is 23 or 30 years old,” he said, before emphasizing that he himself received a notification of mobilization for the month of December. , as reported by the Israeli newspaper ‘Haaretz’.
The president of the commission, Yosef Taieb, of the ultra-Orthodox Shas, has maintained that “each person chooses when they want to contribute.” “In terms of what we must do as a State, it is our duty. When we send people into battle, we must guarantee that they return,” he stated, while indicating that four of his brothers “are currently serving in units fighting”.
Israel launched its offensive against Gaza after the attacks carried out on October 7, 2023 by Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions, which left some 1,200 dead and nearly 250 kidnapped, according to Israeli authorities. Since then, more than 43,800 Palestinians have died in the enclave, according to Gaza authorities, controlled by Hamas, in addition to more than 780 Palestinians killed at the hands of Israeli security forces and in attacks carried out by settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. .