Protesters mass in Tel Aviv to demand return of hostages, warn against Gaza City operation

Thousands are packing into Hostages Square and the adjacent Shaul HaMelech Road in Tel Aviv for a weekly rally to demand the release of the remaining 48 captives.

In the middle of the square, rally-goers unfurl a massive banner addressed to US President Donald Trump: “President Trump, save the hostages now!”

A massive banner calling for the US president to push a hostage deal in Gaza, unfurled at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on September 6, 2025. (OM/Hostages Families Forum)

Speaking at the rally, former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky says she “still lives in captivity” and can envision her partner Matan Zangauker, who is still in captivity, languishing away.

“I see him hungry, thirsty, weak,” she says. “I wonder if he remembers what I sound, feel and look like.”

She accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the hostages’ captivity for political reasons.

“While Matan and the hostages waste away in the dark, the prime minister hangs on to his seat,” she says. “The enemy abducted us, but the ones holding us there for 701 extra days are you, the decision makers.”

“You didn’t do everything. You didn’t do enough, because had you done, they would have already been here,” she says, adding that “the government that has betrayed its citizens.”

Orna Neutra, mother of slain captive soldier Omer Neutra, slams the planned takeover of Gaza City.

“The cabinet has decided to take over Gaza… without planning how to avoid murdering the hostages,” she says. “Whoever doesn’t give answers today will bear an eternal mark of shame.”