At least four protesters, among them relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza, were arrested Tuesday night during a demonstration outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv calling for a deal to free the abductees.

Amid an apparent collapse of talks in Qatar to secure a temporary truce and a release of hostages, protesters gathered in Tel Aviv to demand an agreement, with some blocking roads and slowing traffic

Some family members of hostages and activists blocked Begin Street with cages to represent their loved ones, who have been held captive in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 killing spree across southern Israel.

According to Hebrew media reports, two of the protesters arrested are relatives of nine-year-old Ohad Munder-Zichri, who was taken hostage on October 7 with his mother, Keren Munder, 54, grandmother Ruti Munder, 78, and grandfather Avraham Munder, 78, from the grandparents’ home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Ohad, his mother, and grandmother were released in November during a temporary truce deal. Avraham Munder remains a hostage in Gaza.

Israel Police said officers arrested four protestors at what it said was an illegal demonstration in Tel Aviv.

In a statement Tuesday, Israel Police said that over the course of the evening demonstration, officers “prepared for security and maintaining public order, as part of an illegal protest that took place near the Kirya compound.”

“Israel Police acted with the required sensitivity and allowed the protest of some of the hostages’ families even though it wasn’t legal,” the police said. “However, some of the protestors decided to go down to Ayalon Highway and block traffic, endangering motorists and themselves, and blatantly disrupting public order.” The police said they also gave out four fines to protesters who disrupted traffic.

In reference to the reported arrests, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said Israel’s leadership “should show much more compassion and sensitivity to the families of the hostages.”

“They and their families were abandoned, and their fight is the most just fight there is,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The minimum is to let them scream out their cries.”

“There are still 19 women in captivity, it’s already been almost six months,” Ayala Metzger, whose father-in-law Yoram Metzger, 80, is still captive, told the Kan public broadcaster Tuesday from the scene of the protest.

Yoram Metzger’s wife Tamar Metzger, 78, was released in the November truce deal, which saw 105 hostages released over the course of a weeklong cessation of hostilities.

“We’re celebrating Passover soon, the holiday of freedom, what freedom? What freedom are we talking about?” Ayala Metzger continued. “They’re going through so much, it hurts to imagine it.”

“I’m addressing my prime minister – this is your responsibility,” said Metzger in a call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It is your responsibility, Netanyahu, to bring them home, whatever the cost.”

Netanyahu’s government has been under increasing pressure from sustained protests calling for the release of the remaining hostages with some demanding this be achieved even at the cost of ending the war.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas to secure a second temporary truce and a hostage release deal broke down again this week after Hamas announced it was sticking to its original demands for a cessation to the war, a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and a return of displaces Palestinians to the northern part of the enclave, as part of a hostage deal for Palestinian security prisoners.

Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas, has repeatedly rejected these demands as “delusional” and unrealistic, and said they were non-starters. Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have repeatedly said that the war will not end until Hamas has been fully dismantled and the hostages are returned.

A senior Israeli official who is familiar with the talks told Channel 12 Tuesday that Hamas’s response to the offer on the table was “ridiculous and left no room for doubt” that the terror group’s Gaza chief Yahya “Sinwar does not want to move forward with a deal at the moment.”

The official said Sinwar is “playing for time” and “still dreams” of an escalation of violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began over two weeks ago. Hamas had called for such violence before the start of Ramadan, when mediators were scrambling to secure a temporary ceasefire.

“Under the conditions created, when [Sinwar] in a tunnel surrounded by hostages as a human shield with food and medicine, and when the diplomatic pressure is exerted on Israel even more strongly – he still dreams of unifying the fronts during Ramadan,” said the official.

Netanyahu earlier said Israel would not accept Hamas’s demands for a ceasefire and accused Hamas of being uninterested in proceeding with negotiations toward a deal.

He said Hamas’ rejection “served as unfortunate testimony to the damage of the Security Council decision,” which on Monday approved a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages captured by Hamas, without linking the two.

The US abstained, which allowed the resolution to pass, sparking a spat with Israel.

Netanyahu said Israel would not give in to Hamas’ “delusional” demands and continue to work to destroy the terror group’s military and governing capabilities, as well as seek the release of the remaining hostages taken during Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

It is believed that 130 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — 34 of whom are known to be dead — after 105 were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November.

Four hostages were released prior to that, and three were rescued by troops. The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.

The protest in Tel Aviv on Tuesday came on the heels of an interview given by released hostage Amit Soussana and published by The New York Times on Tuesday in which she shared details of the sexual assault she endured at the hands of her Hamas captor during some 50 days as an abductee.

Soussana’s interview was the first time a hostage has spoken out about a personal experience with sexual violence in captivity but certainly not the first indication of rape and assault of hostages. A number of released hostages have spoken out about the sexual violence they witnessed or heard first-hand while being held in Gaza. Some reports have indicated that men as well as women were being subject to such treatment.