JERUSALEM

The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza said on Saturday that no hostage swap deal with Palestinian factions in Gaza could be made without the dismissal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the country's leadership.

This statement was made during a press conference held near the headquarters of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, where they called on all Israelis nationwide to participate in protests scheduled for Saturday evening at multiple locations.

“There will be no swap deal… without the dismissal of Netanyahu's government,” the hostages' families stated during the press conference.

The families of the hostages hold joint press conferences weekly near the Defense Ministry in the Kirya area of central Tel Aviv.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 37,500 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala