Families of captives held in Gaza launch a 4-day march as Israeli war machine fails to deliver

AP , Wednesday 28 Feb 2024

The families of Israeli captives held in Gaza and their supporters are launching a four-day march from southern Israel to Jerusalem to demand their release as the Israeli war on Gaza has failed to bring back the remaining captives.

File photo: Demonstrators wave signs and shout slogans during a protest calling for the release of captives held in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian resistance Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel. AP

The march comes as negotiations are underway in Qatar to bring about a deal between Hamas and Israel that would lead to a cease-fire and a prisoner-captive swap. US President Joe Biden has said such a deal was at hand but officials from Israel and Hamas were skeptical of his optimism.

Negotiators from the US, Egypt and Qatar are working on a framework deal under which Hamas would free some of the dozens of captives it holds in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a six-week halt in the Israeli war on Gaza. During the temporary pause, negotiations would continue over the release of the remaining captives.

The Israeli war machine has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and sparked global concern over the situation in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost town along the border with Egypt, where 1.4 million Palestinians have sought safety from daily bombardment that has reduced most of the territory to rubble.

Nearly 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip after five months of Israeli war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online