Thousands of Israelis protest to demand hostage return

Thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday, demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accept a ceasefire agreement with the Islamist movement Hamas that would see the remaining Israeli hostages brought home from Gaza.
At a rally in Tel Aviv that took place as Hamas officials were meeting Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo, relatives and supporters of the more than 130 hostages still in captivity said anything possible had to be done to bring them home.
The protests, ahead of the Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls this year on May 6, came as the war in Gaza nears the end of its seventh month amid growing international pressure to stop the fighting.
Some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed on Oct. 7, in the deadliest day in Israel’s history, according to Israeli tallies.
In response, Israel launched a devastating assault on the Gaza Strip, destroying large swathes of the enclave and killing more than 34,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.