Families of Israeli prisoners detained in Gaza continued their sit-in in the vicinity of the Prime Minister’s house Benjamin Netanyahu In the city of Caesarea, south of Haifa, demanding urgent action to return its people, while the police arrested a number of protesters, according to Israeli media.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered today, Saturday, in the vicinity of Netanyahu’s house after the families began their sit-in on Friday evening, where they set up a number of tents and demanded the prime minister and decision-makers to conclude an immediate deal to return the prisoners from Gaza.
The families of the prisoners said in a statement carried by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority that “Netanyahu’s role is to prevent the killing of more detainees.”
They added, “We will remain here until Netanyahu comes out to us and commits to holding an international conference with the participation of all countries concerned with the crisis,” calling on all Israelis to join them.
Earlier, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority quoted some families of the prisoners as saying that they had lost confidence in Netanyahu and his government and that they would “make their own moves.”
Arrests
Meanwhile, Israel Today newspaper said that this morning the police arrested Reserve Brigadier General Amir Haskel from the sit-in site after he read out the names of the detainees over the loudspeaker, and also arrested two female demonstrators.
The newspaper added that the police prevented the demonstrators from taking photos of the arrest, and snatched the mobile phone from one of the demonstrators.
Officials in Tel Aviv say that there are about 136 Israelis still detained by Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, after more than 80 Israelis were released as part of an exchange and truce deal that lasted for a week until the end of last November.
For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement says (agitation) Those remaining Israeli prisoners in Gaza are either soldiers and officers in service or in the reserve, or who have previously served in the occupation army, stressing that it will not negotiate to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners until after the cessation of The Israeli war on Gaza.
Source : Al Jazeera + Agencies + Israeli press