JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL
Hundreds of Israelis demonstrated at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure to New York, demanding the immediate return of captives even at the cost of halting the war in Gaza.
“Before Netanyahu’s trip to the US to deliver his speech at the UN General Assembly, protesters gathered this evening at Ben Gurion Airport,” the Israeli news site Walla said.
According to the outlet, the demonstrators expressed their opposition to Netanyahu’s policy of continuing the war in Gaza and called for the return of the hostages.
Videos posted by Israeli activists showed hundreds of protesters inside the airport, waving Israeli flags and holding photos of captives. Some carried signs reading: “Stop the war and save the abductees.”
One demonstrator appeared in a performance act wearing a Netanyahu mask and orange prison clothes while dragging a suitcase.
Tel Aviv estimates that there are 48 Israeli captives in Gaza, of whom 20 are alive, while around 11,100 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, suffering from torture, starvation, and medical neglect, which have caused the death of many, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.
Hamas has repeatedly confirmed its readiness to reach either a partial or comprehensive prisoner exchange deal, but Netanyahu continues what critics call his obstinacy and assault in Gaza to keep his ruling right-wing coalition intact.
Netanyahu is scheduled to depart at 3 am local time Thursday for his visit to the US, where he will address the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday and meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, according to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
This will be the fourth meeting between Netanyahu and Trump since the latter returned to the White House.
On Wednesday evening, the US outlet Politico, citing six informed sources, said Trump met with Arab leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
According to the sources, the US delegation present at Trump’s meeting with the Arab leaders presented a document outlining the administration’s plan to end the Gaza war, which also included a promise that Israel would not annex the West Bank, following threats by Israeli ministers to annex the occupied territory in response to international recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The Israeli army has killed more than 65,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable and led to starvation and spread of diseases.