1 year ago
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JERUSALEM: Police held back protesters outside the residence of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, amid widespread anger at the failures that led to last month's deadly attack by Hamasgunmen on communities around the Gaza Strip. Waving blue and white Israeli flags and chanting "Jail now!", a crowd in the hundreds pushed through police barriers around Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem.
The protest, which coincided with a poll showing over three-quarters of Israelis believe
Netanyahu
should resign, underlined the growing public fury at their political and security leaders.
Netanyahu has so far not accepted personal responsibility for the failures that allowed the surprise assault which saw hundreds of Hamas gunmen storm into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking at least 240 hostage. As the initial shock has faded, public anger has grown, with many families of the hostages held in Gaza bitterly critical of the government response and calling for their relatives to be brought home. In Tel Aviv, thousands demonstrated, holding photos of some of the captives in Gaza and posters with slogans like "Release the hostages now at all costs" while crowds chanted, "bring them home now".
On Saturday, a poll for Israel's Channel 13 TV found 76% of Israelis thought Netanyahu, now serving a record sixth term, should resign. When asked who is most at fault for the attack, 44% of Israelis blamed Netanyahu, while 33% blamed the military chief of staff and senior IDF officials and 5% blamed the defence minister, according to the poll.
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