(JNS) — Police detained four demonstrators during a rally on Monday near the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza.
The arrests come one day after the Israel Defense Forces announced that it expanded the closed military zone surrounding the border crossing following daily demonstrations against allowing humanitarian aid into the Hamas-rule enclave until the remaining 136 hostages are released.
Hamas is stealing much of the aid intended for Gazan civilians and redirecting it to terrorists hiding in tunnels.
Border Police officers blocked dozens of protesters on Monday from reaching the road where trucks line up to bring aid into the Strip.
It marks the sixth straight day that the demonstrations are taking place. On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters prevented aid trucks from entering Gaza.
The protesters from the “Order 9” movement demand that “no aid goes through until the last of the abductees returns, no equipment be transferred to the enemy.”
The demonstrators include relatives of soldiers killed in action in the Gaza Strip and representatives of the families of the hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. IDF reservists released from Gaza combat and civilians evacuated from the northern and southern frontiers also participated.
On Dec. 15, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved the opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing for the transfer of aid into the Strip after intense U.S. and international pressure. All the Israeli crossings to Gaza had been shuttered after the Oct. 7 massacre, with only Egypt’s Rafah crossing from Sinai remaining open.
