Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Israel to demand the government secure a cease-fire deal with Hamas after the death of six hostages. Anger has been mounting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for failing to bring hostages home alive.
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00:00Crowds gather outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem
00:10as anger mounts against his government for failing to secure a hostage release deal with
00:14Hamas.
00:16Massive protests erupted across the country after six hostages who'd been held by the
00:21Palestinian militant group since October 7th were found dead by Israeli forces in a Gaza
00:26tunnel.
00:27You can't play with civilians' lives.
00:31You cannot do that.
00:33And we demand, we demand the deal to be right now.
00:38That's why we're marching for, that's what we're shouting for.
00:41There are many families, members of the hostages here saying words against the government and
00:48calling, just bring them home.
00:52A candlelight vigil was held in Jerusalem for the six slain hostages, including Israeli
00:58American Hirsh Goldberg-Pollen.
01:02Israel says the hostages were killed by Hamas militants shortly before its soldiers arrived
01:06in the tunnel in southern Gaza.
01:09But Hamas claim the hostages had been killed by Israel's ongoing bombing of the Gaza Strip.
01:15Speaking on the deaths of the six hostages, Netanyahu insisted his government is conducting
01:20intense negotiations to reach a ceasefire deal, blaming Hamas for the delay.
01:50But there are those who say it's Netanyahu's hard-line stance calling for the complete
01:55destruction of Hamas that has delayed a deal being secured after 11 months of negotiations.
02:05It's prompted a large-scale strike across Israel, organised by the country's powerful
02:09labour union.
02:11Opposition leader Yair Lapid called for civilian workers to shut down the economy to pressure
02:17the government to accept a deal to bring the remaining hostages home.
02:24That strike closing the country's largest airport and set to impact other transportation,
02:29health care and banking.
02:35The bodies of a dozen hostages have been repatriated to Israel in the past week.
02:40At least a hundred still remain in Gaza.
02:43The Israeli military believes at least one-third of that number are no longer alive.
03:14That deal would also save lives in Gaza, where more than 40,000 Palestinian civilians
03:24have been killed and over 95,000 injured during Israel's continuing offensive in the Gaza
03:30Strip.
03:33As outrage against the government spreads in Israel, protesters here say they feel it
03:37is a turning point to put an end to the war in Gaza.
03:42Dolphine Chen and Rosie Greninja for Taiwan Plus.