Israel on Sunday saw hundreds of thousands of protesters take to the streets calling for an end to the war in Gaza and the release of hostages still held by Hamas.
Across Israel, demonstrators blocked roads and tunnels, set tyres on fire even as the police resorted to using water cannons to disperse protesters, arresting at least 30 of them. Tel Aviv’s “Hostages Square” saw the largest crowd, with protesters warning that further fighting could endanger the lives of the 20 Hamas captives still thought to be alive in Gaza.
Taking it a step further, a nationwide general strike got underway on Sunday, organised by the October Council as well as the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
For context - the October Council represents family members of the hostages as well as the bereaved relatives of those killed in the fighting that erupted after Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023.
Sunday’s protests came just days after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to take full military control of Gaza and as expected, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was none too pleased and slammed the nation-wide protests insisting such moves “harden Hamas' position” and will further delay the release of Israeli hostages.
However, an emotional Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan and a leading figure in the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, begged to differ. She pleaded for “a comprehensive and achievable agreement” believing “the Israeli government has transformed a just war into a pointless war”.
Notably, the US, Israel’s most vocal ally, is taking a different approach.
The US State Department, in a post on X, announced it was halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza. Adding that the pause was issued to conduct a “full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days”.
Palestinian rights groups, like the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, decried the decision saying the move “will have a devastating and irreversible impact” on their ability to bring injured and critically-ill children from Gaza to the US for lifesaving medical treatment.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer took credit for the State Department’s policy shift and thanked Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the same. This after she wrote a series of posts on X criticising the visa programme and urged the Trump administration to “shut this abomination down”.
