Hostage families put pressure on Israel’s government

The families of Israeli hostages and thousands of their supporters arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday at the end of a five-day march to confront the government over the plight of those taken captive by Hamas in Gaza.
An estimated 20,000 marchers, including well-wishers who joined the procession along the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, want to put pressure on the government “to do everything they can to bring the hostages back”, said Noam Alon, 25, clutching a photograph of his abducted girlfriend, Inbar.
“We are expecting them to meet with us, we are expecting them to tell us how they are going to do it,” he said. “We cannot wait any longer, so we are demand(ing) them to do that now, to pay any price to bring the hostages back.”
Around 240 people – from babies to grandparents and including foreign nationals – are believed to be in the Gaza Strip after being taken hostage by the Islamist group during an Oct. 7 raid on southern Israeli villages and army bases in which 1,200 people were killed.