Chanting 鈥榶es, to peace, yes, to a deal鈥�, hundreds of Palestinian and Jewish Israelis marched noisily through Tel Aviv on Thursday night, demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the cycle of violence.
Their agenda starts with a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, but ultimately, they want to reboot Palestinian-Israeli relations, and breathe new life into the moribund peace movement.
鈥業t basically went silent after October 7,鈥� and the start of the war, Amira Mohammed, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, said of the peace camp.
鈥楾he radicals became louder than the peace movement. So right now, we鈥檝e got to be radical about the peace that we want.鈥�
Mohammed said that included an 鈥榓cknowledgement of the power dynamic between occupier and occupied鈥� as well as 鈥榓ccountability on both sides鈥�.
鈥榃e can鈥檛 stop violence with more violence,鈥� said teacher Carmit Bar Levy, 49.
鈥榃e need to ensure a good life for both Palestinians and Jews inside of Israel. We have to acknowledge they have the same right to live here as us.鈥�
She said there was a growing sense since the outbreak of the war that the status quo could not hold.
鈥楶eace is the only way forward,鈥� said Marcelo Oliki, 64, a survivor of the Hamas-attacks on Kibbutz Nirim.
鈥楾here are children, women and babies dying just across the border from me. There are people there who are grieving too, just like me, and that want peace, too, like me.鈥�
An Israeli military commander said Friday that troops in the country鈥檚 north were preparing for 鈥榓 decisive offensive鈥� against Lebanon鈥檚 Hezbollah after months of deadly cross-border exchanges.
Israeli forces have traded near-daily fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah since the Palestinian militant group鈥檚 October 7 attack on southern Israel started the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Major General Ori Gordin, Israel鈥檚 commanding officer in the north, told troops that 鈥渨e have already eliminated more than 500 terrorists in Lebanon, the great majority of them from Hezbollah鈥�, an army statement said.
According to an AFP tally, more than nine months of violence have killed at least 523 people in Lebanon.
Most of them, 342 people, have been confirmed to be Hezbollah militants but the tally also includes 104 civilians. Gordin did not mention civilian casualties.
In northern Israel, at least 18 Israeli soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed, according to the military.
The exchanges of fire have been largely restricted to the border areas and displaced tens of thousands of Lebanese as well as Israeli residents.
The Israeli military has 鈥榙estroyed thousands鈥� of targets across the border, Gordin said.
The statement said troops were now preparing 鈥榝or the transition to offence鈥�.
鈥榃hen the moment comes and we go on the offensive, it will be a decisive offensive,鈥� Gordin added.
Iran-backed Hezbollah says it is acting in support of Hamas with its attacks on Israel since October 8.
The escalating violence and unsuccessful mediation efforts have raised fears of all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which last went to war in 2006.
Israel has demanded that parts of southern Lebanon be cleared of Hezbollah militants in line with a UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war.
