Israeli PM Netanyahu Faces Protests Over Gaza Hostage Deal Demands | Latest News Update

Opponents of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu say 100,000 people have rallied against the government and to demand a Gaza hostage deal.

The rallies in Tel Aviv and other cities came after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) recovered the body of hostage Elad Katzir.

Protesters chanted “elections now”, and “Elad, we’re sorry”, local media said.

Both Israelis and Palestinians are preparing to mark six months of war on Sunday.

Anti-government protesters were joined by families of hostages held in Gaza. Demonstrators expressed their frustration with the government’s inability to free the around 130 hostages who remain in Gaza, held by Hamas and its allies.

Earlier on Saturday the IDF recovered the body of Elad Katzir, who was seized and taken to Gaza during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October. He appeared alive in a hostage video released in January.

“Elad Katzir managed to survive three months in captivity. He should have been with us today. He could have been with us today,” protester Noam Peri told a BBC reporter.

Organisers said the protesters had rallied in around 50 locations across Israel. These were the latest of a series of huge anti-government protests demanding that Prime Minister Netanyahu step down, amid fury that he has failed to free the remaining hostages.

A car ploughed into crowds at the protest in Tel Aviv, injuring five. The cause of the incident was unclear.

On Sunday – exactly six months since the Hamas attacks triggered the war in Gaza – negotiators plan to meet in Cairo to attempt to reach a ceasefire in the brutal war.

According to some media reports, CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will join negotiators from Egypt, Israel and Hamas.