Hundreds of people, including relatives of Israeli hostages retained by Hamas in Gaza, demonstrated this Sunday, August 10 in London, asking for their release and denouncing the envisaged recognition of a Palestinian state by London, AFP noted. Baptized “National march for hostages”the latter crossed the center of the British capital to finish at 10 Downing Street, the residence of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The objective of the march was to ask the Labor Manager to make the release of the hostages a priority, said the collective «Stop the hate»organizer of this event with Jewish organizations. Among the 251 hostages captured during the unprecedented attack on the Palestinian movement Hamas on Israel in 2023, 49 are still detained in Gaza, 27 of whom died, according to the Israeli army.
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“Let them go”
Some of the demonstrators brandished Israeli flags, others wore yellow ribbons on their clothes, a symbol of solidarity with the captives. “Let them go”could we still read on many signs brandished by the demonstrators.
Adam Ma’anit, the cousin of Tsachi Idan, hostage dead in captivity, was present. “The world wants to forget the hostages. They disappeared from the headlines, the silence is deafening ”he accused on stage. “The government is mistaken in its foreign policy”he added in reference to London’s decision to consider recognition of the state of Palestine in September.
In the gallery, Ayelet Stavitsky, sister of Nadav Popplewell, another deceased hostage, said that «recognize the state [palestinien] Without the return of all hostages amounts to rewarding Hamas ”. Three people, presented as counter-demonstrators by London police, were arrested. Two of them were arrested for acts of violence, said the same source.
A massive rally in Tel Aviv the day before
This march comes in the aftermath of a massive demonstration in Tel Aviv to ask for the end of the war in the Gaza Strip and the release of the hostages, the day after the announcement of the Israeli plan for the conquest of Gaza-Ville, the largest agglomeration in the Palestinian territory.
After 22 months of war, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu faces very strong internal and international pressure on the fate of hostages and to end his offensive in the Gaza Strip, where more than two million Palestinians are threatened with a “Generalized famine”according to the UN.
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The attack on October 7, which sparked the war in Gaza, led to the Israeli side of 1,219 people on the Israeli, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count made from official data. The Israeli operation in Gaza has already made 61,430 victims, mainly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN.
