Watch | Kin of Hamas-Held Hostages Heckle Israel PM Netanyahu, Demand Their Immediate Rescue

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was booed and heckled by the families of Hamas-held hostages who disrupted his speech to the Israeli parliament as they sought immediate rescue of their loved ones who were being held captive in Gaza Strip.

Hamas killed 1,140 people, mostly civilians, when they attacked Israel on October 7 and seized about 250 hostages. Hamas has released some of the hostages but over 129 hostages are still being held captive in Gaza.

Israel has retaliated against the October 7 attack by launching relentless airstrikes and a ground invasion which so far has killed over 20,674 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. The intensity of the attacks has only increased as Israel aims to eliminate Hamas but it has also led to worry and anxiety among the families of those taken captive as they fear that the hostages’ lives are in danger due to the war.

Netanyahu offered no respite to them during his speech to the parliament when he said that Israel’s mission in Gaza isn’t close to finished. “We are expanding the fight in the coming days and this will be a long battle,” Netanyahu said.

His speech was met with boos by kin of those held hostage. “Now! Now!” relatives chanted as Netanyahu said Israeli forces needed “more time” to increase military pressure on Hamas, which he argued would help to secure the captives’ release.

Netanyahu vowed to stay the course in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Monday night. “Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarised, and Palestinian society must be deradicalised. These are the three prerequisites for peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbours in Gaza,” Netanyahu said.

He said demilitarisation “will require establishing a temporary security zone on the perimeter” of the territory.

“For the foreseeable future Israel will have to retain overriding security responsibility over Gaza,” he said.

The protesters gathered near the defence ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv and held up posters demanding that the hostages be freed at any cost. Israel is facing calls to lower the intensity of the Gaza siege by the international community and in the recent weeks the US, its largest ally, has also pressured Israel to change tack in Gaza.