On Saturday, tens of thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv and other cities, calling for the release of approximately one hundred hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas.

“We have to stop sacrificing lives; we have to stop sacrificing them [the remaining hostages],” a relative of one of the hostages who passed away last week stated during the Tel Aviv demonstration.

According to Israel’s Health Ministry, Carmel Gat, another lady, and four males were shot at close range last week after their bodies were discovered in a Gaza tunnel by Israeli soldiers on Sunday.

“If [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] had agreed to a deal, the six would be here with us today,” mournfully and angrily speaking to the assembly, Gat’s relative declared.

The Gaza War began on October 7, 2011, when militants from Hamas and other radical Palestinian organisations invaded southern Israel, murdering over 1,200 people and capturing 250 more as captives. It was an unprecedented bloodbath.

Israel claims that 101 individuals are still being held by Hamas; however, it is unknown how many of them are still alive.

Months have passed since the US, Egypt, and Qatar began mediating indirect talks for their release.

In addition to ending the war, negotiators hope to free thousands of Palestinian inmates from Israeli detention facilities and evacuate Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

Opponents claim that Mr. Netanyahu is preventing an agreement from being reached by making disproportionate demands, such as requiring the Israeli military to be continuously stationed at key locations in the Gaza Strip.

Along with far-right parties, Mr Netanyahu leads a coalition that opposes any kind of accommodation to Hamas and threatens to leave, a move that would cause the governing alliance to fall apart.

According to media sources, there were more protests in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba, Nahariya, and Caesarea.