Thousands of people gathered this Sunday in Jerusalem to protest against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to call for early elections in the country due to his management of the war in the Gaza Strip, which is approaching six months.
For the first time, the anti-government protests were also joined by relatives of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, who demanded an agreement that facilitates the release of the 130 captives who still remain in the enclave.
“If you can’t bring them back, step aside, leave. We need someone in your place who can,” said the daughter of Hanna Katzir, one of the hostages released during the agreed seven-day truce during the protest. between Israel and Hamas last November.
The prime minister, speaking to the media at the same time as the march took place, assured that calling early elections would only serve to paralyze negotiations to free the kidnapped people.
“The first to thank Hamas would be,” he said.
Netanyahu guaranteed that he is doing everything in his power to bring back the hostages, but that the demands of the Islamist group in the negotiations in Doha (Qatar) “are a danger to national security.” The protesters don’t see it the same way.
“Netanyahu does not want the hostages to return home because he knows that in that case he would have to face pending trials and could go to jail. That is why he is prolonging this war for so long,” Maya Gal, 70, told EFE. who this Sunday participated in the march against the Government.
➡️ Join the El Sol de México channel on WhatsApp so you don’t miss the most important information
According to Maya, the president “does not care about the soldiers or the hostages, only his political interests.”
The head of the opposition to Netanyahu, Yair Lapid, criticized the authorities’ decision not to cancel the spring recess of the Knesset (Parliament), which lasts six weeks and will begin on April 7.
“We have no recess for the people who are fighting in Gaza. Why should the Knesset go on vacation at a time like this?” Lapid said during a speech at the rally.
The protest brought together various Israeli movements and groups to call for the president’s resignation. Among them, dozens of soldiers in the Army reserve who gathered in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim, where they asked that yeshiva (Talmudic schools) students be recruited.
For decades, ultra-Orthodox young men of military age have been able to avoid being recruited if they were enrolled in schools where they study the Torah and, through annual extensions, they managed to reach the age of 26, the current military exemption age, without having to enlist.
But a government provision, approved in June 2023, expires at midnight this Sunday, meaning the ultra-Orthodox can begin to be recruited tomorrow, Monday.
Following the massive mobilization of 287,000 reservists for the war in Gaza, which has now lasted almost six months, in addition to the deployment of battalions of soldiers both on the northern border with Lebanon and in the occupied territory of the West Bank, many Israelis are asking Netanyahu to all young people in Israel fulfill their “military duty.”
But his current government coalition depends on the vital support of the ultra-Orthodox parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism – opposed to enlisting and with the ability to bring down the Executive if forced to do so.
Israel’s Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, today sent letters to the Ministries of Defense and Education asking them to begin working on the ultra-Orthodox recruitment plan starting this Monday.
In his speech this Sunday, Netanyahu was confident that the problem of ultra-Orthodox recruitment will be resolved, but did not give further details.
The prime minister will face surgery this Sunday for a hernia that was discovered on Saturday, but he assured that he will return to activity very soon.
Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, around a dozen journalists were injured in an Israeli bombardment on the courtyard of the Martyrs of al Aqsa Hospital in the city of Deir al Balah, the most important in the central area of Gaza, in which also Two people died, according to a source from the Gaza Health Ministry.
Hamas authorities announced that the number of journalists who have died in Gaza since the start of the war rose to 137 today, after a photojournalist working for several media outlets was killed when his home in the al Maghazi refugee camp was bombed. near Deir al Balah.
➡️ Subscribe to our Newsletter and receive the most relevant notes in your email
According to figures from this Sunday, nearly 32,800 people have died since the start of the war on October 7, more than 70 percent of them women and children, and thirty children have died from acute malnutrition, according to data of Gazan Health, in the face of the imminent famine that threatens the Strip.
2024-03-31 19:43:29
#Thousands #protest #Netanyahu #elections #agreement #free #hostages #Sol #México
