Thousands of people flocked to the centre of London today to demand Hamas returns the 121 hostages who are still in Gaza, joining nearly two-dozen similar protests taking place across the world 240 days after Hamas’ deadly incursion into Israel.
The march, organised by Human Chain Organisation and the Hostages’ Families Forum, saw scores of people marching from Lincoln’s Inn Field Park in Holborn to Richmond Terrace in Whitehall.
The procession was attended by family members of hostages, including Merav and Amir Daniel, the parents of Oz Daniel, an IDF soldier who was killed on October 7 and whose body was brought back to Gaza by Hamas.
Also in attendance were Osnat and Menachem Getz, the aunt and uncle of Omer Neutra, an IDF tank commander who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7.
Neutra, a New Yorker, is still believed to be alive somewhere in Gaza. His uncle, Menachem, told MailOnline that the West cannot afford to forget about him and the other hostages still held by Hamas.
He said: ‘Everybody needs to remember what happened on October 7. Everybody has already forgotten it was a terror attack.
Menachem Getz wore a dog-tag with a Star of David attached
The march was organised by Human Chain Organisation and the Hostages’ Families Forum
The march saw scores of people marching from Lincoln’s Inn Field Park in Holborn to Richmond Terrace in Whitehall
‘It’s not just an Israeli issue, it’s something that needs to unite all the nations that are involved. There are two British citizens who are hostages.
‘It needs to be a top priority from all over the world to release these hostages. Releasing these hostages, I think, will resolve the humanitarian issue [in Gaza].
‘It’s not a local issue. Everybody needs to be involved.’
Osnat added: ‘It’s heartwarming for us to see so many people showing us solidarity by coming here today. It’s given us a lot of strength and hope that everything will be okay soon.’
‘I’m sure that everyone who has a bit of humanity is with us. But we don’t just need to see actions, we need to see results.
‘We want our loved ones to be back home with us, so we can hug them and we see them. It’s been eight months since October 7, we can’t believe it’s taken so long already. We are really hoping that this deal, which is very generous, could end this horrible time.’
Many people flew both British and Israeli flags at the same time
Protesters holding placards, including one of hostage Noa Argamani
Osnat and Menachem Getz (pictured), the aunt and uncle of Omer Neutra, an IDF tank commander who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7
Protestor David, who works in financial services, told MailOnline: ‘I was horrified by the attack on October 7, but even more horrified by the response I saw in the UK’
Protestor David, who works in financial services, told MailOnline: ‘I was horrified by the attack on October 7, but even more horrified by the response I saw in the UK.
‘Near where I live, there were people out celebrating the pogrom that Hamas committed. Even before the bodies were cold, there people out in the streets of Britain celebrating.’
‘It tells us that there’s a horrible anti-Semitic trend here in the UK that really needs to be challenged. To do that, we need to stand behind Israel.
‘Rhetorically, the British government have signalled their support [for Israel], but as the war against Hamas has progressed we’ve seen more and more equivocation. It’s reprehensible on behalf of the government.
‘The government and David Cameron in particular need to stop criticising Israel’s actions and double down on its support. More needs to be done politically about the problem of anti-Semitism in the UK.’
It doesn’t appear that the Israel-Hamas war, the bloodiest conflict in the Middle East in years, will abate any time soon, after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israel will pursue the war, which now nears its ninth month, until it has destroyed Hamas and freed the captives.
It doesn’t appear that the Israel-Hamas war, the bloodiest conflict in the Middle East in years, will abate any time soon
Flags fluttered in the wind during the protest
Protesters holding placards and waving flags take part in a ‘United we Bring Them Home’ march
Palestinian militant group Hamas, meanwhile, has said it ‘views positively’ what Biden described as an Israeli proposal.
Netanyahu, a hawkish political veteran leading a fragile right-wing coalition government, is under intense domestic pressure from two sides.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered Netanyahu political support if the government secures a deal.
Netanyahu said on Saturday that ‘Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel’.
Mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt later said they ‘call on both Hamas and Israel to finalise the agreement embodying the principles outlined by President Joe Biden’.
According to Biden, Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of the Gaza Strip and an initial hostage-prisoner exchange.
People take part during a Bring Hostages Home event in central London, to demand the immediate release of Israeli hostages from Gaza
The protestors were demanding the immediate release of the 121 hostages still in Gaza
Israel’s retaliatory bombardments and ground offensive have killed at least 36,439 people in Gaza, mostly civilians
Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate for a lasting ceasefire, with the truce to continue so long as talks are ongoing, Biden said, adding it was ‘time for this war to end’.
Netanyahu took issue with Biden’s presentation, insisting that according to the ‘exact outline proposed by Israel’ the transition from one stage to the next was ‘conditional’ and crafted to allow it to maintain its war aims.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leaders of the two extreme-right parties in parliament, warned they would leave the government if it endorsed the truce proposal – potentially costing Netanyahu’s coalition its majority.
Ben Gvir said on X his party would ‘dissolve the government’, while Smotrich said: ‘We demand the continuation of the war until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages return.’
Smotrich said he also opposed the return of displaced Gazans to the territory’s north and the ‘wholesale release of terrorists’ in a prisoner swap.
Hamas took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people
Lapid, a centrist former premier, said that the government ‘cannot ignore Biden’s important speech’ and vowed to back Netanyahu if his far-right coalition partners quit.
‘I remind Netanyahu that he has our safety net for a hostage deal,’ Lapid said on X.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory bombardments and ground offensive have killed at least 36,439 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
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