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Hostage Families Begin March Towards Jerusalem
Orange balloons fill the skies above Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Thursday as hundreds gathered to mark the grim milestone of the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, who is a hostage in Hamas captivity. Wednesday, January 17, 2024. (Photo: Debbie Weiss)
Family members of those still held captive in Gaza began a four-day march on Wednesday to Jerusalem, with the goal of building pressure for a deal to secure their release.
“Join us! I’m marching for my husband and for all the abductees,” chanted Sharon Aloni Konio, a former hostage herself who joined the march that begins at Kibbutz Re’im, one of the many Israeli towns attacked by Hamas on October 7. During that fateful day, Sharon, her husband, and more than 240 others were kidnapped from their homes, a music festival, or military bases and taken captive in the Gaza Strip. An additional more than 1,200 were killed.
The march leaves from the Gaza border town and is led by roughly 70 families of those being held, alongside supporters of the cause. Their goal is to arrive in Jerusalem, where they will petition the government to pursue another deal to bring about their release.
Sharon was one of the more than 100 hostages released in November during a deal brokered between Israel, Hamas, the US, and Qatar. She told the group, “There are no words to express our gratitude. I also want to join in and say that my heart goes out to the bereaved families. They are truly heroes. Everyone who fought there is an indescribable hero. I ask everyone who can: Join us and show us your support in our important struggle.”
Another member of the march, the grandson of one of the elderly hostages being held, Oded Lifshitz, told the supporters: “145 days of hope that has not yet been realized and still has not faded. The gift and its resurrection. We are still waiting to see 134 people from our family, who will return to hug their children, return to their border or be able to reach their eternal rest. We are marching for Israel’s revival. We need to bring them all back.”
It is estimated that 134 hostages remain in captivity, including seven women, 15 men over the age of 50, and 13 hostages who are sick or injured, among a number of soldiers. The IDF estimates that around 50 of the 134 hostages have been killed in captivity or were taken by Hamas dead from Israel.
The parents of a soldier who joined the IDF from the US, Omar Neutra, said, “The support is broad and inclusive and comes from all shades of the people of Israel, each in their own way, because that’s how we are the most beautiful. I say thank you for all this beauty, all the light and the mobilization for us, the families of the abductees. Their return is a top value for all of us. Our strength is in our unity. Out of this unity we embark on a journey from the place where the terrible disaster began to Jerusalem, our eternal capital.”
Efforts to score a deal have been ongoing since the last deal in November. Israeli representatives met with American, Qatari, and Egyptian representatives in Paris last week, where an outline for a new deal was agreed upon. US President Joe Biden expressed optimism for its conclusion, though Israeli officials quickly pushed back, saying a deal was not imminent.
Hamas has stood firm in its demands that the IDF retreat completely from the Gaza Strip, as well as pushing for the release of thousands of terrorists held in Israeli prisons.
It is yet to be seen if a breakthrough will occur in the interim. According to reports from Israeli outlets, mediators are trying to secure a deal prior to the beginning of Ramadan on March 10, which marks month-long daily fasts by Muslims around the world, and has historically been a time of increased tension in Israel.
The post Hostage Families Begin March Towards Jerusalem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.