Dozens of teenagers blocked northbound Ayalon Highway near the Rokach Interchange Sunday, setting classroom desks on fire and protesting for the release of hostages. They demanded that the Israeli government sign an agreement to secure the hostages’ return and end the war, and said they would not attend school Monday, September 1.
Youth group organizers said they could not continue studying while hostages were being killed in Hamas tunnels and the government had not addressed the deal on the table. “Today we are high school students, but in a year or two we will all be in uniform. We want and need to know that when we go to the front, our country will stand behind us and honor the moral and ethical commitments on which we were raised,” they said.
The teenagers added that high school students across the country would not accept continued neglect. “We will fight for the hostages, fight for the values we were raised on, fight for our future, and we will not stop until the last hostage is home. We call on the Israeli government to act today to advance a deal, secure the return of all hostages and end the war,” they said.