Protests by relatives of Israeli prisoners held by the resistance have continued over the past five months (Getty)

Dozens of families of Israeli prisoners detained in the Gaza Strip closed the central street linking Tel Aviv to the occupied city of Jerusalem, demanding that the government reach an immediate prisoner exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Relatives of the prisoners set fire to car tires, while some of them sat in iron cages that were placed in the street to protest the condition of the detained prisoners, according to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.

Israeli Channel 12 reported that the demonstrators chanted, “The government’s life is not at the expense of the kidnappers.”

They also chanted, "Now, now," in reference to the demand for an immediate prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas.

The protesters raised banners calling on the Israeli occupation army to stop its operations in Khan Yunis because of its danger to the detainees. They also chanted slogans calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to conclude an immediate exchange deal, and to meet with them to inform them of the latest developments regarding the course of the talks in Cairo.

Channel 12 quoted a relative of one of the prisoners as saying, “The chances of the prisoners returning alive are diminishing. We need to wake up the government and Netanyahu, and they must understand that an agreement must be reached now.”

She also quoted the families as saying, in a letter addressed to Netanyahu: “You are the head, and it is your responsibility to bring them home. Go to a deal, and ignore (National Security Minister Itamar) Ben Gvir and (Finance Minister Bezalel) Smotrich.”

Abu Ubaida renews adherence to the conditions

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Hamas movement - said on Friday - during an exclusive speech broadcast by Al Jazeera - that the famine that cast its shadow on all components of Gaza Strip society extended to the prisoners of the Israeli occupation, to the point that the lives of some of them became threatened due to illness and lack of food and medicine.

Regarding the rumors of progress or breakthrough in the truce negotiations file, Abu Ubaida said that the occupation government uses deception and evasion in the negotiations and is characterized by confusion and confusion, stressing that the resistance’s highest priority for achieving a prisoner exchange is full commitment to completely stopping the aggression and the resulting withdrawal of the occupation forces. The return of displaced persons and reconstruction.

Abu Ubaida addressed the families of the occupation prisoners in Gaza, saying that if they are concerned about the lives of their relatives, they must know that their government and their war council are manipulating the lives of their children and insisting on “receiving them in coffins,” as he put it, adding: “The ball is in their court to save whoever of them can be saved.”

He pointed out in this context that the “American administration’s lamentation” over limited numbers of occupation prisoners and its ignoring of the genocide and Holocaust to which the Palestinian people are subjected, as well as its ignoring of thousands of its prisoners, confirms its double standards and their indifference to human rights or any alleged international law.

Since last Sunday, negotiations have been taking place in Cairo with the participation of Egypt, the United States, Qatar, and Hamas for a ceasefire between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Israel estimates that there are more than 125 prisoners in Gaza, while it holds at least 8,800 Palestinians in its prisons, according to official sources from both sides.

A truce previously prevailed between Hamas and Israel that lasted for a week from November 24 until December 1, 2023, during which a ceasefire took place, a prisoner exchange took place, and very limited humanitarian aid was brought into Gaza, with Qatari-Egyptian-American mediation.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of victims, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction and a humanitarian catastrophe, which led to Israel being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing genocide.

Source: Al Jazeera + Anatolia