500 protesters call for hostage deal outside IDF HQ; captive’s brother demands PM go to Doha himself to negotiate

Some 500 protesters assemble on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, outside the IDF headquarters, to demand a hostage deal and rail against the government, as around the same number of people gather for a more staid rally at Hostages Square, a block away.

Speaking on Begin Road, Danny Elgarat, brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat, addresses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding to know why the hostage deal is stalling.

“Whom will you blame now” that Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar is dead, he asks. “The hostages?”

He demands Netanyahu go to Doha himself for the hostage talks that will resume there after about two months.

“Don’t send the Mossad chief without any authority,” he adds. “Stop playing for time.”

Bolstering the Begin Road protest are the Movement for Quality Government and anti-government reservist group Brothers in Arms — both prominent critics of the judicial overhaul.

Also present are contingents from leftist groups Standing Together and Breaking the Silence.

The drumming and chants of the Begin Road protest contrast with the Hostages Street rally, where the Hostages Families Forum has resumed its weekly rallies since last week, after a monthlong hiatus due to IDF Home Front restrictions amid the escalation in Lebanon.

The rally comes on the eve of the second national day of mourning to mark a year since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

The rally is titled “Another day of mourning” — alluding to the families’ ire toward the government’s capacity for ceremonies without a hostage deal.

Kicking off the rally, actor Lior Ashkenazi, the regular MC of the Forum’s rallies, says: “We don’t need more ceremonies. We need a deal — now!”