Israeli protesters rebuke Netanyahu over Gaza ceasefire conditions

Rallies that began on Sunday and continued into Monday halted most of Tel Aviv's activities

An anti-government protester in Tel Aviv on Monday holds a placard depicting the six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza at the weekend. Reuters

An Israeli university student held hands with a friend as they joined thousands in a Tel Aviv rally, demanding a deal to free the Gaza hostages after a general strike that had significantly disrupted the city.

The lettering on her black T-shirt read: "Deals save lives".

Lina, 21, and her friend were part of one of the most daring and defiant actions against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who continues to insist on his strict conditions for a ceasefire despite mounting pressure and the death of hostages in the Palestinian territory.

Rallies that began on Sunday and continued into Monday halted most of the city’s activities despite a court order to end the general strike early, after a petition by right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

"I don’t understand why we [the government] haven’t achieved one," said Lina.

Surrounding her were Israelis from diverse social strata, but there was a noticeable absence of support for the ultra-nationalist and religious coalition steering the war. Despite their different backgrounds, crowd members appeared to be united in their discontent with the government.

As the night demonstration continued, Mr Netanyahu issued an apology for the death of six Israeli hostages in Gaza, which further fuelled public anger against the government and sparked the general strike.

"I told the families, and I repeat this evening: I apologise to you that we have not been able to bring them back alive. We were close but we were not successful," Mr Netanyahu told reporters in Jerusalem.

He repeated his conditions for a ceasefire and insisted that the Israeli army will stay in the Salah Al Din corridor, also known as the Philadelphi corridor, near the border with Egypt.

In recent days, talks in Doha and Cairo to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been focused on new proposals put forward by the US to overcome differences between both parties, sources told The National on Monday.

Among the proposals is that Israel should completely withdraw from the corridor, as well as the Palestinian side of the Rafah land crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

In return, Hamas will be prohibited from the border strip, as well as the Rafah crossing, and excluded from taking part in postwar governance or reconstruction efforts in the coastal enclave, according to the proposals.

'He doesn’t care'

The six hostages were recovered from the southern city of Rafah on Saturday. Israel said they were all shot dead shortly before they were discovered, while Hamas has claimed Israel was responsible, saying at least one was killed in an Israeli air strike.

Earlier in Tel Aviv, a retiree in shorts walked alongside his wife Beth, a psychoanalyst who carried the Israeli flag.

After the evening demonstration ended, she scrolled through her mobile, searching a WhatsApp group for the scheduled protests for the next day. She is considering attending one near Mr Netanyahu's summer home.

“He is the reason for this, and he doesn’t care," said the Israeli.

A week-long truce in late November allowed 100 hostages to walk free. Hamas and other militant groups are now believed to be holding fewer than 100 hostages, including about 40 who may have died while in captivity.

Among the civil groups organising the demonstrations are university professors and other liberal members of society, who have been overshadowed by the nationalist-religious current that has helped Mr Netanyahu to dominate Israeli politics for the past 15 years.

At the end of the evening rally, crowds marched to the grounds of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art to support the families of hostages, who had set up stalls in front of the museum, selling items to raise funds for the cause.

A pianist played on an open-air piano in the grounds. When asked about the composition, he said: "It’s from my head. It’s sad."

Back in Gaza, where more than 40,700 Palestinians were killed since the Hamas attack on October 7 that left 1,200 dead, according to Israeli tallies, Hamas was threatening to execute hostages if the army approached them.

"Netanyahu's insistence on liberating the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean that they will return to their families inside coffins and their families will have to choose whether they are dead or alive," said the spokesman for the group's armed wing, Abu Ubaida.

"Only Netanyahu and the occupation army bear full responsibility for the killing of the prisoners, after they deliberately disrupted any deal to exchange prisoners for their personal and narrow interests."