More than 20,000 Israelis joined the parents of a soldier held captive in Gaza as they marched through central Israel on Friday - the sixth day of a 12-day solidarity hike to Jerusalem aimed at pressuring the country's decision-makers.
Gilad Shalit's parents and their companions marched from the agricultural commune of Ma'aboret, about half-way between the northern Israeli port city of Haifa and the central Mediterranean metropolis of Tel Aviv, to the town of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv.
Organisers planned to end the day with a mass Sabbath service and dinner opposite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private weekend home in nearby Caesarea.
The solidarity march, which started in the family hometown of Mitzpeh Hila in northern Israel on Sunday, is expected to arrive in Tel Aviv on Monday and in Jerusalem by Thursday.
Shalit was captured at a southern Israeli army outpost during a cross-border raid from Gaza on June 25, 2006. The raid was led by Hamas and two other Palestinian militant groups.
Netanyahu went on primetime television Thursday night to respond to the solidarity march, arguing that "public pressure and demands need to be directed towards Hamas rather than towards the Israeli government."
He said he is "prepared to pay a heavy price for the release of its hostages," but added that there are some prices he is "not prepared to pay."
Netanyahu went on to list two conditions for a prisoners' exchange with the radical Islamist Hamas movement, which is holding Shalit at an unknown location in Gaza.
He said militants who remain "dangerous" should not be allowed to return to their West Bank homes, from where they could travel relatively easily to cities in central Israel - including Haifa, Netanya, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem - and carry out more attacks.
Netanyahu also vowed not to free the "arch-murderers" who are behind Israel's "most shocking and horrendous terror attacks."
The premier provided little details about the indirect, behind- the-scenes negotiations with Hamas that have been conducted by a German mediator.
He said he had accepted a proposal that involves the release of 1,000 Palestinian militants from Israeli prisons, including 450 who appear on a list of names submitted by Hamas, in exchange for Shalit.
Hamas had provided a larger list and Israel chose names from it, he explained.
Hamas, however, apparently insisted on a number of militants whom Netanyahu includes among the "arch-murderers" whose release he calls non-negotiable.
Hamas has also refused to accept the condition that freed prisoners who are still considered dangerous be banned from the West Bank.
Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal warned Monday in Damascus that the demands of his organisation will grown if Israel delays securing a prisoner exchange deal