'Bring them home': Israelis call for hostages' release

TEL AVIV, Israel — Hundreds of Israelis gathered in what has come to be known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for the release of nearly 140 people still being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

As speakers took to the stage, the crowd held placards bearing messages like "they trust us to get them out of hell", and "bring them home now".

Ruby Chen, the father of 19-year-old hostage Itai Chen, said from the podium: "We are asking the Israeli cabinet, the war cabinet, to explain what exactly is on the negotiating table.

"We demand to be part of the negotiation process," added Chen, whose son is a soldier and was taken while on duty. 

"Get them out now, immediately, whatever the price might be."

Demonstrator Yoav Zalmanovitz said the government "did not care" about the hostages.

"They want revenge," he told AFP.

Zalmanovitz said his 85-year-old father, Arye, was taken alive to Gaza and died there weeks later.

Hamas dragged around 240 hostages back to Gaza during its bloody October 7 attack on Israel, and fears for their safety have gripped the public through eight weeks of war.

A one-week truce deal that ended on December 1 saw 105 hostages released from Gaza, among them 80 Israelis -- mostly women and children -- freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians jailed by Israel.

However, efforts to revive the deal have stalled, and Israel says at least 137 hostages are believed to still be in Hamas captivity.

In a video testimony played at the rally, freed hostage Margalit Moses, 77, said she was hauled off to a tunnel under Gaza, where one of her Hamas guards took away a machine she used to help her breathe at night.

"Forty-nine days I did not sleep," she said. 

"There were mental difficulties, there were physical difficulties, and every day that passes it becomes more and more difficult."

"Every day feels like an eternity... Whether it's the hunger, the longing for family," 18-year-old Itay Regev said of his captivity in another clip.

In the crowd on Saturday, Eli Eliezer, who said he had a relative among those still being held, told AFP the government should have prioritised returning the hostages over pressing its war against Hamas.

"They should