Israeli Hostage Families Protest PM Netanyahu's Plan To Occupy Gaza

PM Netanyahu when he met representatives of the families of the victims and Israeli hostages some time ago. (Source: GPO/Kobi Gideon)

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to occupy the Gaza Strip, Palestine, drew protests from the family and relatives of the hostages detained in the Palestinian Pocket area.

Protests took place across Israel on Thursday, when the country's Security Cabinet voted to expand its military campaign and occupied Gaza completely.

Videos from the Hostages and the Missing Family Forum show a large group of protesters gathering in front of the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, where the cabinet gathers. Crowds gathered around the large, flying Israeli flag, with pictures of the hostages being carried out in Gaza, shouting chants to end the war in Gaza and repatriating all those who still held Hamas.

"Imposing fighting is a death penalty and a forced disappearance for our loved ones. Look into our eyes when you choose to sacrifice them. This is the time to put forward a comprehensive deal that will unite them all - the 50 hostages," the forum said in a press release. , reported CNN August 8th.

Anat Angrest, the mother of an Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas, told PM Netanyahu's government in a statement, "for one year and ten months, we have tried to believe that any effort has been made to bring them back. You have failed."

In Tel Aviv, video footage shows demonstrators marching outside Netanyahu's Likud Party headquarters, in a similar tone urging the government to ensure the return of the remaining hostages safely.

Smaller protests also took place in Israeli cities such as Herzeliyah, Ra'ana and Ness Ziona.

Earlier, PM Netanyahu said Israel intends to take military control of the entire Gaza Strip, Palestine, despite increasingly intensive criticism at home and abroad of the war that has lasted nearly two years in the Palestinian enclave.

"We meant that," Prime Minister Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News Channel's Bill Hemmer when asked if Israel would take over the entire coastal area.

"We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to set it up. We don't want to be there as a government agency," he explained.

PM Netanyahu said Israel wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces who would rule it. However, he did not specify which rules of government or Arab countries might be involved.