Einav Tsangauker, mother of Matan Tsangauker, sent a message to the hostage deal negotiation team in Qatar Saturday evening at Begin Gate as demonstrators marched across the country calling for a hostage deal.
"You say this is probably the last chance. Don’t be afraid to confront Netanyahu if he’s blocking it! If you don’t secure a deal this time, the deaths of the hostages will also be on your hands. Don’t give up on them! Bring them back," she declared.
The demonstrations began with protesters sitting in chairs and blocking an intersection at Democracy Square in Tel Aviv.
A demonstration was also held at the Kaplan intersection, calling for the advancement of a deal for the hostages and the setting of an election date. Protesters lit a bonfire on Begin Road. Additionally, around 80 protest sites were active across the country, Israeli media reported.
'You give us the strength to come here, to continue to fight'
"316 days since Liri has been in my heart, in our hearts, missing endlessly," said Eli Elbag, father of 19-year-old kidnapped soldier Liri, at the opening of his speech at Hostages Square. "Dear citizens, I want to tell you that because of you, we find the strength. But now I want to tell you that you are not just citizens; you are our family, who has been embracing us for ten months in the cold and the heat. My dear family, you give us the strength to come here, to continue to fight, and to cry out our cry."
"This is the time for a deal; Hamas wants it, and so do Iran and Hezbollah in their silence. If there is no deal, there will be a terrible war, one in which we know how it begins but not how it will end. The State of Israel has sacrificed 1,600 murdered sons and daughters, among them 600 soldiers who fought to the death. There are 100,000 citizens displaced from their homes. When will this end? Strive for a deal; now is the time."