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Protesters at a committee meeting in Israel's parliament

Photo: Steven Scheer / REUTERS

Angry relatives of Hamas hostages stormed a meeting of an Israeli parliamentary committee.

The approximately 20 men and women in black T-shirts broke into the meeting room in the Knesset and demanded that the MPs make greater efforts to free their relatives from the control of the terrorist organization.

"They won't sit here while they die," one poster said.

Videos on social media show security guards initially trying to prevent the demonstrators from entering the room - unsuccessfully.

In the recordings, scuffles and angry shouts can be seen and heard in the meeting room.

The chairman of the finance committee, Moshe Gafni from the ultra-Orthodox, tried to calm the protesters.

"The liberation of prisoners is the most important commandment in Judaism," he said.

A deputy hid her face in her hands.

Hamas killed around 1,140 people and kidnapped more than 250 others during its attack on Israel on October 7th.

Around 130 are still in the hands of the Islamists, and according to Israeli information, 27 have died in captivity.

Attempts at mediation, particularly by the USA, Qatar and Egypt, have recently shown no progress.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas's conditions, which included, among other things, the Islamists maintaining power in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu: “There is no real offer from Hamas”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu met with relatives of 15 hostages in Jerusalem.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, each of the families was able to send two members to the exchange with the head of government.

Netanyahu said there was still no offer from Hamas for a ceasefire.

"There is no real offer from Hamas - it's not true." There is, however, an initiative about which he could not provide any details, said Netanyahu.

It is unclear whether this is the multi-stage diplomatic process mediated by the USA, Egypt and Qatar, which the Wall Street Journal had previously reported on.

According to the report, the process should start with the release of hostages, later the Israeli troops should leave the Gaza Strip and the war should end.

The newspaper refers to unnamed diplomats who are said to have been involved in the mediation attempts.

Netanyahu and his government are striving for the complete destruction of Hamas, which is why Israel's army has been conducting a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip since October.

On Monday, the city of Chan Yunis once again became the focus of fighting.

According to eyewitnesses, there were attacks from the air, land and sea.

These were the worst attacks since the war began in October.

More than 25,000 people have died in the attacks, according to Hamas-controlled health authorities.

In the past 24 hours alone, 190 Palestinians were killed and 340 others injured in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, an authority spokesman said.

These figures cannot be independently verified but have proven to be credible in the past.

fek/Reuters/dpa