Protesters gather at intersections around country as hostage relatives excoriate Netanyahu coalition

Protesters demonstrating against the government and in favor of a hostage deal have gathered at a number of intersections around the country, according to the Hostage and Missing Families Forum.

Crowds of several dozen to several hundred people, waving signs and flags, are seen gathered near Rehovot, Hod Hasharon, near Nahalal in the lower Galilee, and elsewhere.

In Tel Aviv, the crowd has swelled to thousands, according to media reports, with relatives of hostages delivering angry speeches from atop a van in the middle of Begin Boulevard.

“The Philadelphi axis is the biggest bluff there is,” says Eli Albag, father of hostage Liri Albag, referring to an area on the Gaza-Egypt border where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded troops remain, turning it into a major sticking point in talks.

“Netanyahu thinks Israel’s people are dummies. Hezbollah, Iran, the West Bank, Gaza — the most important axis is the Ben Gvir-Smotrich axis. That’s the most dangerous axis to the nation of Israel,” he says, according to the Ynet news site.