Israeli protesters in Tel Aviv demand gov't resignation, early elections

JERUSALEM

Israeli demonstrators in Tel Aviv escalated their protests on Monday, demanding the resignation of the government and early elections.

Protesters urged a cessation of economic activities across the country until early elections are declared.

In recent weeks, Israelis have intensified their protests, calling for the government's resignation, early elections, and a prisoner swap with the Palestinian group Hamas, as well as a cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel's Broadcasting Authority reported that demonstrators closed a major highway near Tel Aviv in central Israel on Monday.

Protesters were quoted as saying: "This is an emergency. It's clear that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is incompetent and unworthy. All economic activity should stop until the most corrupt and failed government in the country's history is replaced.”

Simultaneously, the Israeli daily Haaretz noted that a group of activists chained themselves at the entrance of the Histadrut (Israel's General Federation of Labor) building in Tel Aviv.”

The Histadrut is Israel's largest labor union.

The protesters demanded early elections and the cessation of economic activity in Israel, the daily said.

Netanyahu refuses to hold elections amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Opposition and prisoner families accuse the long-serving Netanyahu of pursuing policies that serve his personal interests, particularly his continued tenure and failure to achieve stated goals in the Gaza war, including eliminating Hamas and freeing prisoners held in Gaza.

Netanyahu rejects calls for the government's resignation and early elections, arguing that it would “paralyze the state and freeze prisoner exchange negotiations for up to 8 months.”

For weeks, Israel has witnessed popular protests demanding the government reach an agreement on prisoner exchanges and cease continuous gunfire in Gaza since Oct. 7 last year.

Mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, Israel and Hamas have been engaged in months of stalled indirect negotiations to reach an agreement.

Hamas and other Palestinian factions accuse Israel and its ally, the US, of lacking the will to end the war and using negotiations to buy time in hopes that Tel Aviv will achieve gains.

Earlier, Palestinian factions agreed in May to a proposal for an agreement put forward by Egypt and Qatar, but Netanyahu rejected it, claiming it did not meet Israel's demands.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by Hamas.

More than 37,500 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio