ISRAELI protesters have interrupted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech during a memorial to remember the victims of the October 7 attack as the Gaza ceasefire talks restarted in Doha, Qatar.
Netanyahu stood motionless at a podium during the ceremony on Sunday as audience members in the crowd shouted, interrupting him for more than a minute, according to a live broadcast of the speech. Some people shouted “Shame on you” and made a commotion, forcing Netanyahu to stop his speech shortly after it began.
One of the protesters repeatedly shouted, “My father was killed”.
According to a Times of Israel report, the commemoration was initially not meant to include speeches by bereaved family members, fearing they would criticise the Israeli government. But amid protests, the family members were allowed to deliver their speeches at the ceremony.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 last year, and more than 200 were taken captive. Nearly 100 captives remain in Gaza.
Public and diplomatic pressure has been mounting on Netanyahu’s administration to do more to strike a deal for securing the release of captives still held in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday proposed an initial two-day ceasefire in Gaza to exchange four Israeli captives for some Palestinian prisoners.
El-Sisi made the announcement as efforts to end the devastating, more than year-long war on Gaza resumed in the Qatari capital Doha with the directors of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency taking part.
Speaking alongside Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune during a press conference in Cairo, el-Sisi also said that talks should resume within 10 days of implementing the temporary ceasefire in efforts to reach a permanent one.
Families of the remaining captives, along with several Western leaders, have called on the Israeli government to broker an agreement after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar earlier this month.
Reporting from Doha, Al Jazeera’s Osama bin Javaid said Sinwar’s death has provided a new opportunity for ceasefire talks, but in reality, both “sides are digging their heels”.
“Hamas say removal of the leadership, does not take away what they’ve been fighting for, which in their words they say is “illegal occupation,” Javaid noted.
