WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Activists gathered in West Al-Quds on Friday to demand an end to the Zionist regime’s military campaign and genocide in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.
Videos shared online showed demonstrators holding banners with messages such as “Stop the War”, “Stop the Genocide” and “Stop the Massacre”.
The protesters, known for their leftist stance against the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territories, chanted slogans, urging an immediate ceasefire.
Israeli police present at the rally reportedly confiscated the banners by force.
The protesters said: “Just as the Israeli regime stopped its fire in Lebanon, it can also stop the fire in Gaza.”
In a separate demonstration, hundreds of Israeli women, including relatives of captives held in Gaza, staged a silent protest outside the Likud Party headquarters in Tel Aviv.
According to Channel 12, the women, dressed in white, called for a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
“Mothers and relatives of the captives leading the protest are urging Likud members to back a deal to release all captives,” the Channel reported.
One participant expressed the group’s determination, saying: “Today, we stand as sisters, mothers and leaders with a clear message: Israel must do everything possible to bring our loved ones home at any cost. The price of leaving them in captivity will be far greater for us as a nation.”
According to these families, 101 Israelis are currently held in Gaza, with half believed to have died.
They argue that a prisoner swap with Palestinians held in Israeli prisons represents the only chance to bring their loved ones home.
Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October last year, killing over 44,360 people, most of them women and children, and injuring more than 105,000.
The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labelling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.