JERUSALEM

Hundreds of Israeli protesters on Monday evening broke through a police barrier near the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, triggering violent clashes with the police. 

Several rallies across Israel took place in the evening, demanding a cease-fire and hostage-prisoner swap deal in Gaza, and to protest Netanyahu's insistence on staying in the Gaza-Egypt border area - known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

Netanyahu reaffirmed his intention to stay in the Philadelphi Corridor earlier in the day. "If we withdraw, we won't (be able to) return there — not for 42 days and not for 42 years," Israel’s Channel 12 reported him as saying at a Cabinet meeting.

Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since an Oct. 7 cross border attack by Hamas that claimed 1,200 lives and around 250 were taken as hostages. 

According to the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the protesters carried six empty coffins to represent the six captives announced dead in Gaza last week.

The Times of Israel news website said at least 10 Israelis were arrested outside Netanyahu's residence in West Jerusalem.

On Sunday, the Israeli army reported finding the bodies of six hostages, adding to the ongoing tension as the war enters its eleventh month.

Before the discovery, Israel said 107 hostages remained in Gaza, some of whom were believed to have already been killed.

For months, the US, Qatar, and Egypt have been trying to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas, but to no avail.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar