Families of Gaza hostages led a protest march from the Knesset to the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, where they rallied Wednesday night to cap a “Day of Disruption,” calling on the government to negotiate a deal to release the 48 captives still held by terror groups in Gaza.

At the same time as the march, protesters elsewhere in the country temporarily shut down several roads, including Route 1, the key Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, and Highway 431 near Modi’in.

The families of the hostages set out from the Knesset following a stormy meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, during which the father of hostage Rom Braslavski accused lawmakers of “drinking the blood of the hostages” by pushing ahead with an expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip.

“Instead of having a toast on Rosh Hashanah, you will be drinking the blood of the hostages,” screamed Ofir Braslavski. “You will drink their blood because they are dead!

“You all need to go home…My son is dying, does that interest any of you? This happened on your watch,” he declared.

Braslavski, 21, was abducted from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre. He is being held in the Strip by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.

The terror group published a video of Braslavski in July, and claimed that it was recorded days before it lost contact with his captors, leaving his fate unknown.

After the meeting, and before setting off for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence, the families spoke to protesters who had gathered outside the Knesset to support them.

“If the prime minister wanted it, the hostages would be back here within a few days, even by the High Holidays,” said Anat Angrest, whose son Matan is a hostage in Gaza.

She lamented that a “hostage routine” had developed in Israel since the October 7 onslaught almost two years ago, marked by “great sadness, from rally to rally.”

“Decision-makers, some of whom haven’t served a day in the army, are betraying the army, are sending soldiers to fight and die,” she said.

Angrest urged the public to join the protests and embrace one key goal, “Stopping the war and returning everyone, down to the last hostage.”

She stressed that the public should only protest “within the bounds of the law,” likely alluding to an incident earlier on Wednesday when activists torched dumpsters and tires near Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence, inadvertently burning an IDF reservist’s car.

Vicky Cohen, the mother of hostage soldier

© The Times of Israel