Protesters block roads in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as they mark nine months since start of Gaza war

(7 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tel Aviv, Israel - 7 July 2024
1. Drummers at protest, protesters with Israeli flags
2. Protester on megaphone chanting (Hebrew) “All of them - now! Deal - now!”
3. Protester with signs left (English) “Stop the war,” right (Hebrew) “Enough with the abandonment”
4. Pan of protesters with Israeli flags
5. Protesters chanting (Hebrew) “All of them - now!”
6. Protesters with Israeli flags
7. Pan to flare and smoke on ground and drummer at protest
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem - 7 July 2024
8. Protesters on both sides of road calling for new elections and a cease-fire deal to return the hostages being held in Gaza
9. Protesters on megaphone and drums
10. Protester holding poster with image of Agam Berger, hostage held in Gaza
11. Protester holding poster with image of Romi Gonen, hostage held in Gaza
12.SOUNDBITE (English) Elisheva Baumgarten, protester:
“We have 120 hostages still in Gaza, and the government is doing everything they can not to get them out. The soldiers, the army, all the heads of security have said that we do not need to be in Gaza anymore. It’s time to move on. It’s time to bring these people home, to do what the country owes to its citizens. And it’s time to find a way for this region to live peacefully and not with non-stop war. I’m here today to protest the government and to demand that the deal that is currently on the table be accepted by the Israeli government.”
13. Sign at protest reading (Hebrew) “Don’t you dare break our hearts.”
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Omer Vinokur, protester:
“There is a possibility, a real possibility to bring back home 120 civilians, 120 lives to Israel, right now, with Hamas, although it’s a terror organisation, it’s possible right now. We’re here to call our government to take this deal, and to bring them home now! We are calling to (Antony) Blinken, to (Joe) Biden to everyone who can listen - help us to bring them home.”
15. Protester with sign reading (Hebrew) “only a deal”
16. Close on sign reading (Hebrew) “only a deal”
17.SOUNDBITE (English) Tomer Lev, protester:
“I’m here today because my government can’t get the hostages back home. It’s that simple. They just can’t, and they don’t want. And after nine months of war, nine months of protests that are demanding our government to bring them back home they just don’t want to do it. They can’t do it. So, today we stopped the country in demand to bring the hostages back home, and to go on elections so our government can build this country back from the beginning.”
18. Various of protester with poster with image of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, hostage held in Gaza
STORYLINE:
Israeli protesters blocked roads across Israel on Sunday as they marked nine months since the start of the Gaza war.
They called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down and urged a cease-fire that could bring back hostages still being held by Hamas militants.
Sunday’s “Day of Disruption” started at 6:29 AM, the moment that militants launched the first rockets toward Israel on October 7.
Protesters blocked main roads and demonstrated outside of the homes of members of Israel’s parliament.
Near the border with Gaza, they released 1,500 black and yellow balloons to symbolize those who were killed and abducted.
The demonstrations came as international mediators renewed efforts to broker a deal.
Hamas over the weekend appeared to have dropped a key demand for an Israeli commitment to end the war, according to Egyptian and Hamas officials.
AP Video by Ami Bentov and Shlomo Mor
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