Some 500 women launched a new coalition, Mothers on the Front, on Sunday to campaign for the end of the war in Gaza and the return of the 50 hostages held by terror groups there, 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

The coalition is inspired by the Four Mothers movement launched in 1997 to advocate for pulling the IDF out of southern Lebanon. That movement was instrumental in the withdrawal that took place in May 2000.

Sunday’s launch event began with a march near the Gaza border to a site memorializing female soldiers killed at Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists overran their army base. The assault on southern Israel saw some 1,200 people slaughtered, mainly civilians, and 251 abducted to the Gaza Strip.

The women plan to camp in protest for at least five days next to Kibbutz Sa’ad in southern Israel.

Last week, Israel’s security cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take over the densely populated Gaza City despite warnings from the Israel Defense Forces that such an operation would risk the lives of the remaining hostages and Israeli soldiers, and would likely worsen the humanitarian........

© The Times of Israel