Israelis Rally Against Netanyahu as Gaza War Reaches Half-year Mark

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv demand the return of detainees in Gaza (AFP)
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv demand the return of detainees in Gaza (AFP)
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Israelis Rally Against Netanyahu as Gaza War Reaches Half-year Mark

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv demand the return of detainees in Gaza (AFP)
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv demand the return of detainees in Gaza (AFP)

Tens of thousands of Israelis protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday as Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza reaches its half-year mark.

Organizers said about 100,000 people converged at a Tel Aviv crossroads renamed "Democracy Square" since mass protests against controversial judicial reforms last year.

Chanting "elections now", protesters called for his resignation as the war in Gaza enters its seventh month on Sunday, AFP correspondents reported.

Rallies were also held in other cities, with Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid taking part in one in Kfar Saba ahead of his departure for talks in Washington.

"They haven't learnt anything, they haven't changed," he said at that rally.

"Until we send them home, they won't give this country a chance to move forward."

Israeli media said clashes had broken out between protesters and police at the Tel Aviv rally and police said one protester had been arrested.

Later, the protesters in Tel Aviv were joined by families of Gaza hostages and their supporters.

Earlier, the army announced that troops had recovered the body of a hostage abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack and later murdered in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

The recovery of Elad Katzir's body brings to 12 the number of bodies of hostages which the army says it has brought home from Gaza during the war.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 33,137 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

About 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage by militants on October 7.

The army says 129 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

Demonstrators are to take to the streets again on Sunday, with a rally planned in Jerusalem.



Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
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Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

More than 10,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Thursday.
On average, that means 30 migrants died every day this year attempting to reach the country by boat, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said. Overall deaths rose 58% compared to last year, the report added, according to The Associated Press.
Tens of thousands of migrants left West Africa in 2024 for the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that has increasingly been used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.
Caminando Fronteras said most of the 10,457 deaths recorded up until Dec. 15. took place along that crossing, the so-called Atlantic route — considered one of the world's most dangerous.
The organization compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued. It included 1,538 children and 421 women among the dead. April and May were the deadliest months, the report said.
Caminando Fronteras also noted a “sharp increase” in 2024 in boats leaving from Mauritania, which it said became the main departure point on the route to the Canary Islands.
In February, Spain pledged 210 million euros (around $218 million) in aid to Mauritania to help it crack down on human smugglers and prevent boats from taking off.
Spain’s interior ministry says more than 57, 700 migrants reached Spain by boat until Dec. 15 this year, a roughly 12% increase from the same period last year. The vast majority of them came through the Atlantic route.