A divided Israel

The protest followed a 70 kilometre walk by the demonstrators from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem over five days, representing by far the largest protest that has taken place on behalf of the Israeli hostages. Following their arrival in Jerusalem, the protesters displayed  yellow balloons printed with the words "Bring them home." 

The sheer scale of the protests prompted Netanyahu to intervene, claiming he was on the protesters' side in their bid to free the hostages.

"I am marching with you. The Israeli people are marching with you," he said. "I promise, when we have something to say, we will inform you" - which was taken as a reference to the delicate negotiations taking place with Qatar to release some of the hostages.

The negotiations eventually resulted in Netanyahu agreeing to a deal whereby Hamas agreed to release 50 women and children held captive in return for a four-day ceasefire and the release of 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.

Netanyahu's supporters insist that he is pursuing two distinct but related objectives: to destroy Hamas militarily, while at the same time seeking to bring the hostages home. But concerns about how these two very different objectives can be reconciled has led to the anti-government protests continuing, with angry clashes taking place in the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, this week when the hostages' families tried to disrupt a debate by right-wing politicians calling for the introduction of the death penalty for Hamas members convicted of terrorist offences.

The deepening political divisions within Israel over the fate of the remaining hostages could certainly have a bearing on the eventual outcome of the Qatar-sponsored negotiations taking place to secure the release of all of the captives.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Qatar-sponsored hostage negotiations has been the role played by Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas military commander who has been accused of personally masterminding the October 7 attacks.

Israel regards Sinwar, who spent 22 years in an Israeli prison after being given four life sentences in 1988 for attempted murder and sabotage, as public enemy number one, with Netanyahu recently describing the Hamas leader as a "dead man".

Even so the 61-year-old Sinwar, who was released by the Israelis as part of a prisoner swap in 2011, has managed to remain in Gaza directing operations, where he is now using his personal experience of being involved in a hostage swap to arrange similar deals.

It remains unlikely, though, that the swapping of Israeli hostages for Palestinian detainees will bring an end to the fighting, certainly if Netanyahu has his way.

The Israeli prime minister has not only resisted numerous calls from the international community to impose a ceasefire that would allow aid agencies to deliver much-needed relief to the hundreds of thousands of Gazans trapped by the fighting. He has recently intensified the Israeli military's massive offensive to destroy Hamas, with Israeli forces regularly targeting hospitals they claim are being used by Hamas as military command and control centres. At the same time Hamas, despite agreeing to the partial release of Israeli hostages, has pledged to continue its war against Israel.

The fact that the Israeli government has shown no sign of scaling down its military operations, even if it means jeopardising the fate of the Israeli hostages, suggests that Netanyahu and his supporters are determined to maintain the offensive until they have fulfilled their stated objective of wiping Hamas from the face of the earth.

Having concentrated much of their military operations to date in northern Gaza, the Israel Defence Forces are now looking to expand their military operations in southern Gaza, with human rights groups reporting that Israeli warplanes are intensifying air strikes in the area.

In such circumstances, the only prospect of Netanyahu's government taking any serious interest in ending its military offensive in Gaza would be if the pressure from the families and supporters of the remaining Israeli hostages still held by Hamas becomes so great that the Israeli leader is compelled to call a halt to the fighting.

It might be a long shot, but unless Netanyahu comes under serious pressure from either his domestic political opponents, or key allies such as the US, to implement a ceasefire that would enable all the hostages to be freed, the bloodshed in Gaza will continue indefinitely.