From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Netanyahu ‘choosing to murder our hostages’: Captives’ relatives, activists protest in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Hostages’ families and supporters are gathering at the Knesset in Jerusalem and at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv today, protesting the government’s decision to end the ceasefire and resume airstrikes in Gaza.
About a dozen protesters stood outside the Knesset at midday, holding up images of hostages still held in Gaza and yelling into megaphones to call for their return home and for a resumption of the ceasefire.
Bereaved father Michel Illouz, whose son Guy Illouz was taken hostage to Gaza where he was killed and where his body remains, stood outside the Knesset and shook his head: “I have nothing to say. I just came back from the US and I can’t believe this is what I returned to.”
Other hostage family members are expected to speak this afternoon at the Jerusalem protest, with freed hostages Iair Horn, Sasha Troufanov and Keith Siegel planning to make statements at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square this evening.
Iair Horn’s brother, Eitan Horn, is still held captive in Gaza.
Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, pens a social media post accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “choosing to murder our hostages.”
“This is a war that will bury our families if it isn’t stopped,” she contends.
