Dozens of teenage activists protesting for the return of the hostages blocked the northern Ayalon Highway near Rokach Interchange on Sunday.
During the demonstration, the protesters set up a classroom display on the road, set fire to the area, and, according to their claims, one of the teens was arrested. The display was eventually cleared, but the teenagers announced that they would not attend school tomorrow, September 1.
The group declared that they would shut down high schools across the country in protest against the government’s inaction on the hostage issue.
The group stated they would not allow the school year to start with hostages still in Gaza
"We are not willing to live in a routine where the hostages are murdered in Hamas tunnels and the Israeli government doesn’t even bother discussing the deal on the table. Therefore, we will not allow the school year to start as usual," the group said in a statement.
"Today we are high school students, but in a year or two, we will all join the army. 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 contract on which we were raised. We will not accept continued abandonment. We will fight for the hostages, we will fight for the values we were raised with, we will fight for our future, and we will not give up until the last hostage is home."
The teenagers called on the Israeli government to take immediate action to advance a deal, return all the hostages, and end the war.