Demonstrators across Israel called on Sunday, August 17, for an end to the Gaza war and a deal to release hostages still held by militants, a push lambasted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies.
The protests come more than a week after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to capture Gaza City, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory. The war was triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, during which 251 people were taken hostage. Forty-nine captives remain in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
A huge Israeli flag covered with portraits of the remaining captives was unfurled in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, which has long been a focal point for protests throughout the war. Demonstrators also blocked roads, including the highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where they set tires on fire, according to local media footage.
Israeli police said more than 30 protesters were arrested for disturbing public order. Organizers also called for a general strike on Sunday, the first day of the week in Israel. Netanyahu slammed the protesters, saying their actions “not only harden Hamas’s position and draw out the release of our hostages, but also ensure that the horrors of October 7 will reoccur.”
‘Shut down the country’
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group said in a statement that protesters would “shut down the country today [Sunday] with one clear call: Bring back the 50 hostages, end the war.”
Their toll includes a soldier killed in a 2014 war whose remains are held by Hamas. Recent videos released by Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad showing two weak and emaciated captives have heightened concern for the fate of the hostages.
“If we don’t bring them back now – we will lose them forever,” the forum said.
Egypt said in recent days mediators were leading a renewed push to secure a 60-day truce that would include hostage release, after the last round of talks in Qatar had ended without a breakthrough. Some Israeli government members who oppose any deal with Hamas slammed Sunday’s demonstrations.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decried “a perverse and harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas” and calls for “surrender.” Culture Minister Miki Zohar, of Netanyahu’s Likud party, said on X that blocking roads and disrupting daily life was “a reward to the enemy.”
Benny Gantz, an opposition leader, condemned the government “attacking the families of the hostages” while “bearing responsibility for the captivity of their children by Hamas for nearly two years.”
AFPTV footage showed protesters at a rally in Beeri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was one of the hardest-hit communities in the Hamas attack, and Israeli media reported protests in numerous locations across the country.
