Tel Aviv, MINA – Thousands of protesters blocked main roads in Tel Aviv and Haifa on Saturday night, leading to clashes with police, as they demanded a prisoner swap agreement between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Resistance, Palestine Chronicle reported.
According to the Times of Israel, five protesters were detained, citing a police statement. The statement also reportedly called on “protesters to stop the riots that endanger the police and the rest of the protesters.”
The paper reported that organizers said 500,000 people had attended the mass rally in Tel Aviv, “which would make it the largest in Israel’s history.”
Speakers at the rally accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “insisting Israel remain on the Philadelphi Corridor, separating Gaza from Egypt, as a way to thwart a hostage deal and keep his right-wing government intact,” the report said.
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It quoted one protester who interrupted a speaker, yelling” “Netanyahu is a murderer!” which drew some applause.
Protesters also lit a bonfire on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, the report said.
The Anadolu news agency cited Israeli Channel 12 as noting that Saturday’s demonstrations were “among the largest protests the country has seen since October 7, 2023.”
The Bring Them Home Now movement posted on X that the “largest rally in Israel’s history is taking place right now, with more than half a million supporters, calling for a deal that will bring all 101 hostages back home. In addition, a quarter of a million people are demonstrating all over Israel.”
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Following the recent recovery of six captives’ bodies in a Gaza tunnel, the movement said the “people of Israel have had enough.”
“The people of Israel are calling ‘Seal the Deal’,” it said. (T/RE1/P2)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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