Families of Israeli hostages storm Knesset to demand action

A group of relatives of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian gunmen in Gaza stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem on Monday, demanding that the lawmakers do more to try to free their loved ones.

The action by about 20 people signaled growing domestic dissent in the fourth month of the war in Gaza against Hamas. One woman held up pictures of three family members who were among the 253 people seized in the cross-border Hamas rampage of October 7 that triggered the worst fighting in decades. Some 130 remain in captivity after others were brought home in a November truce.

"Just one I'd like to get back alive, one out of three!" the woman protester cried after pushing into the Knesset Finance Committee discussion.

Other protesters, clad in black T-shirts, held up signs reading: "You will not sit here while they die there."

"Release them now, now, now!" they chanted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to push back on Monday against media speculation that a new Gaza truce was in the works, telling relatives of hostages held by Hamas that the Palestinian militant group has not made any solid offer.

"There is no real proposal by Hamas. It's not true. I am saying this as clearly as I can because there are so many incorrect statements which are certainly agonizing for you," Netanyahu's office quoted him as telling the group.

At least 50 Palestinians were killed and 100 wounded in Israeli military strikes on Khan Younis since Sunday night, the Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told Reuters.

"We believe that many victims are trapped under the rubble and in areas the occupation forces had invaded where the medical teams are unable to reach to them," Al-Qidra added, implying that the number of fatalities could go higher.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Monday at least 25,295 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory during the war between militants and Israel while some 63,000 people in Gaza have been wounded in the conflict since October 7.

 EU foreign ministers pressed Israel for an eventual two-state solution with the Palestinians after the war in Gaza, at meetings with the top diplomats from the two sides and key Arab states in Brussels. The 27 EU ministers met first with Israel's foreign minister Israel Katz before they were due to sit down separately with the Palestinian Authority's top diplomat, Riyad al-Maliki.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were also holding talks with the European ministers. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told Israel that "peace and stability cannot be built only by military means". 

"Which are the other solutions they have in mind? To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill off them?" Borrell said.

Germany's Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock renewed calls for a pause in the conflict, as the nation's ministry of Interior extended visa-free stay for Israeli nationals until April 26.

"All those who say they don't want to hear about such a solution have not brought any alternative," Baerbock said.

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