By SAM METZ, NATALIE MELZER and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli protesters demanding a deal to free hostages in Gaza attempted to shut down the country Sunday in one of the largest and fiercest protests in 22 months of war. Organizers, representing the families of hostages, asserted that hundreds of thousands of people took part.
Frustration is growing in Israel over plans for a new military offensive in some of Gaza’s most populated areas. Many Israelis fear that could further endanger the remaining hostages. Twenty of the 50 who remain are believed to be alive.
“We live between a terrorist organization that holds our children and a government that refuses to release them for political reasons,” said Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held in Gaza.
Even some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs now call for a deal to end the fighting.
Protesters gathered at dozens of places including outside politicians’ homes, military headquarters and on major highways. They blocked lanes and lit bonfires. Some restaurants and theaters closed in solidarity. Police said they arrested 38 people.
One protester carried a photo of an emaciated Palestinian child from Gaza. Such images were once rare at Israeli demonstrations but now appear more often as outrage grows over conditions in the territory after more than 250 malnutrition-related deaths.
Netanyahu opposes any deal that leaves Hamas in power
An end to the war does not seem near. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is balancing competing pressures including the potential for mutiny within his coalition.
“Those who today call for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’ position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will be repeated,” Netanyahu said, referencing the Hamas-led attack in 2023 that killed some 1,200 people and sparked the war.
The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released some hostages earlier this year, far-right members of his cabinet threatened to topple Netanyahu’s government.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Sunday’s demonstrations “a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas’ hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future.”
The new offensive would require the call-up of thousands of reservists, another concern for many Israelis.
Another 17 aid-seekers killed in Gaza
Hospitals and witnesses in Gaza said Israeli forces killed at least 17 aid-seekers on Sunday, including nine awaiting U.N. aid trucks close to the Morag corridor.
Hamza Asfour said he was just north of the corridor awaiting a convoy when Israeli snipers fired, first to disperse the crowds. He saw two people with gunshot wounds.
“It’s either to take this risk or wait and see my family die of starvation,” he said.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the Israeli-backed and U.S.-supported distribution points that have become the main source of aid since they opened in May, said there was no gunfire “at or near” its sites, which are located in military-controlled areas.
An Israeli strike targeting a group of people in the Bureij camp in central Gaza killed three, according to Al-Awda hospital, which received the casualties.
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions.
Israel’s air and ground war has killed more than 61,900 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children.
Two children and five adults died of malnutrition-related causes Sunday, according to the ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
The United Nations has warned that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. Most aid has been blocked from entering Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade in March after ending a ceasefire. Deliveries have since partially resumed, though aid organizations say the flow is far below what is needed.
Fears of the coming military offensive
It is not clear when Israel’s military will begin the new offensive in crowded Gaza City, Muwasi and what Netanyahu has called the “central camps” of Gaza.
The military body that coordinates its humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, this weekend noted plans to forcibly evacuate people from combat zones to southern Gaza “for their protection.” Designated “safe zones,” however, also have been bombed during the war.
War-weary Palestinians insisted they won’t leave, arguing that there is no safe place in Gaza.
“There are no humanitarian zones at all,” said Raghda Abu Dhaher, who said she has been displaced 10 times during the war and now shelters in a school in western Gaza City.
Mohamed Ahmed also insisted that he won’t move south. “Here is bombing and there is bombing,” he said.
Airstrike on power plant in Yemen
Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s capital Sunday, escalating strikes on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who since the war in Gaza began have fired missiles at Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthi-run Al-Masirah Television said the strikes targeted a power plant in the southern district of Sanhan, knocking it out of service. Israel’s military said the strikes were launched in response to missiles and drones aimed at Israel.
While some projectiles have breached its missile defenses — notably during its 12-day war with Iran in June — Israel has intercepted the vast majority of missiles launched from Yemen. Its military later Sunday said it had intercepted another, and the Houthis claimed they had targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.
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Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel and Magdy from Cairo. Sam Mednick contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war