350,000 attend Tel Aviv rally for ceasefire and hostage-release deal, organizers say

By Charlie Summers

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26 August 2025, 9:27 pm

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A massive crowd marches to Tel Aviv's Hostages Square for a rally calling for a deal to release the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza on August 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

As rallygoers trickle out of Hostages Square, actor Lior Ashkenazi claims from the stage that tonight’s massive demonstration for a deal to release the captives drew a total of 350,000 attendees.

“This is the most moral and humanitarian struggle there is,” he says, calling on demonstrators to continue to take to the streets.

“We are done being polite, enough!” he yells.

Protesters join organizers in singing Israel’s national anthem to conclude the rally.

Police did not immediately provide their own independent estimate of the crowd size. Organizers of a similar rally on August 17 said that 500,000 had attended the demonstration that day.