KIBBUTZ NIRIM, Israel (Reuters) – Families of Israeli hostages being held in the Gaza Strip protested near the border on Thursday, demanding a deal to secure their release and at one point made a dash to try to cross into the coastal enclave.
Relatives of some of the 107 hostages still held by Palestinian militants in Gaza, carrying photographs and wearing shirts marked with red paint, gathered at kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel, roughly 2 km (1.2 miles) from the border.
They began by shouting messages of love and support through a stack of speakers pointed towards the Gaza frontier.
“Hersh, it’s dada,” yelled Jon Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was taken hostage from a music festival.
“What you need to know, and all 107 of you need to know, is not only are the families here today and 9 million people of this country, but people all over the world are fighting for you,” he said.
His mother, Rachel Goldberg, raised her hand to the sky as she spoke into the microphone: “We love you. Stay strong. Survive.”
Nirim was one of a string of Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip targeted in a cross-border rampage by Islamist group Hamas on Oct. 7 that sparked the war in Gaza.
Hamas-led gunmen killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and abducted around 250 hostages on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s military has levelled Gaza, driving nearly all of its inhabitants from their homes and killing at least 40,000, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 militants.
International efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal have failed to end the fighting.
At one point a few dozen protesters broke off and rushed towards the Gaza border in the distance.
“We are coming to get them back to Israel where they belong, where they are supposed to be,” said Eyal Kalderon, short of breath during the dash, whose cousin Ofer is a hostage.
They were stopped before reaching the border by Israeli police, who warned that standing in the open field made them easy targets for Palestinian militants.
“We were trying to get into Gaza to get the hostages back. Our family members. Our military stopped us, they are trying to defend and protect us. But the hostages aren’t protected there,” said Gil Dickmann. His cousin Carmel Gat is also in captivity.
“We have to sign a deal now and get all the hostages back. And we’re calling our prime minister – if you can’t do this, we’ll get inside and we’ll bring them back ourselves. Bring them home now.”
(Reporting by Amir Cohen; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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