Hostages’ relatives block Tel Aviv highway

Demonstrators demanding the return of hostages have blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, demanding a deal to secure their return, the Times of Israel reports.

The protesters, many of them relatives of those held in Gaza, have held a banner depicting the faces of the hostages with the statement, “whoever abandoned them, must return them.”

Since the October 7 attack by Hamas, which killed some 1,200 people in Israeli communities, Israel's military campaign has killed around 37,800 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry figures. Around 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas. Some 120 hostages are still in Gaza.