Egypt Daily News - Immediately after Hamas announced its approval of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Israeli demonstrators and family members of hostages held by Hamas moved to demand an immediate deal, while opposition circles called for the proposal to be dealt with seriously.
Israeli demonstrators blocked Begin Street in Tel Aviv to demand an urgent exchange deal with Hamas for a ceasefire and the return of the hostages. The angry demonstrators arrived near the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to renew their demands for approval of the exchange deal.
The mother of one of the hostages said, "Now is the time for the government to bring the hostages home, otherwise we will burn the country." The mother of hostage Matan Zanjoker, Einav Zanjoker, told the Israeli Channel 12, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “This is your time. Be brave, be a leader. The government and the war cabinet must accept the agreement. Every one of our hostages must return home. "
"If our government and our prime minister miss this opportunity - perhaps my last chance to see Matan come home and for other families to see their loved ones come home - I will take all Israelis out. The streets will burn, the country will burn... We cannot play with people's lives this way," she continued.
In parallel, the Forum for Families of Israeli Detainees said: “We welcome the Hamas announcement and call on the government to make this statement a complete agreement with the movement.”
Lapid: Deal or shame
In turn, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid attacked the government and called for the need to build on recent developments and move to Cairo to return the kidnapped people.
He wrote on the “X” platform: “The government that wants to return the kidnapped people is now holding an urgent discussion and sending teams to Cairo, and is not hysterically issuing 3 different briefings from different parties and crushing the hearts of the people. It is a national disgrace.”
Thousands of Israeli demonstrators take to the streets every week, demanding new elections and urging the government to take further measures to return hostages held in Gaza.
Hamas-led militants detained 253 people during the October 7 attack, which killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli statistics. Some hostages were released during a truce in November, and more hostages are expected to be released in the expected truce.
Hamas agrees to a truce
On Monday, Hamas announced its approval of the Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement from Hamas. They said in a statement that Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, made a phone call with the Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and with the Egyptian Minister of Intelligence, Abbas Kamel, and informed them of Hamas’ approval of their proposal regarding the ceasefire agreement on Monday.
Israel's first response to Hamas' announcement, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that Hamas' response to the truce proposal was being studied "seriously," while a storm of skepticism began on the part of political officials.
In response to a question about Hamas’ announcement of a truce, Hagari said: “We are studying every answer and every response seriously and we are exhausting all possibilities regarding negotiations and the return of the hostages.”
