Families Demand Ceasefire, Full Hostage Release in Israel

Relatives of Israeli hostages and activists of the women protest movement took to the streets of Tel Aviv on December 17, to call for an immediate ceasefire deal which will see the release of all 100 hostages in Gaza amid reports on both Israeli and Palestinian new efforts to forge a new deal.

Relatives of Israeli hostages and activists of the women protest movement took to the streets of Tel Aviv on December 17, to call for an immediate ceasefire deal which will see the release of all 100 hostages in Gaza amid reports on both Israeli and Palestinian new efforts to forge a new deal.
Carrying large posters of their loved ones and chanting slogans the protesters marched on the Tel Aviv headquarters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party where they demonstrated outside.
The protesters who call for a comprehensive deal and an end to the war in Gaza fear that Netanyahu and his government, who say they will not end the war in Gaza until Hamas is eliminated, will reach a limited deal that would pause the fighting in Gaza and return to Israel some, but not all, of the hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said recently that there was now a chance for a new deal that would allow the return of all the hostages, including U.S. citizens.
A Western diplomat in the region, however, said a deal was taking shape, but it would likely be limited in scope, involving the release of only a handful of hostages and a short pause in hostilities.
Such a truce and release would be only the second since the start of the war in October 2023.
Efforts by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States to reach a truce in Gaza and a release of hostages have gained momentum in recent weeks, though there has been no breakthrough.
The three countries have, for more than a year, led rounds of so-far fruitless talks to broker an end to the 14-month-long war in Gaza.
In previous rounds, disagreements over new demands that Israel introduced about its future military presence in Gaza obstructed a deal, even after Hamas accepted a version of the proposal Biden introduced in May.
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A round of talks in mid-October failed to produce a deal, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal.
 

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