Masses set to rally for slain hostages still in Gaza: ‘No victory until all return’

Thousands of Israelis were expected to rally Saturday night for the return of the remains of the five slain hostages still held in Gaza. At the same time, anti-government groups were seeking to bring their protests back to Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, site of the massive 2023 demonstrations against the judicial overhaul.

Following the return Friday of the remains of Lior Rudaeff as part of the Gaza ceasefire, terror groups in the Strip still hold the remains of five slain hostages: Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed fighting in the 2014 Gaza war, Meny Godard, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Dror Or and Sudthisak Rinthalak.

Gvili’s sister Shira, Godard’s daughter Bar and Goldin’s brother Chemi were set to speak at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum’s central rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, the Forum said in a press release. Also set to speak were Tami Baruch, whose son Sahar‘s body was returned to Israel on October 30; and, for the first time, Nimrod Cohen, one of the 20 final living hostages who were released on October 13 as part of the Gaza ceasefire.

In its statement, the Forum called on the public to demand that Israel not proceed to the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire agreement “until the last hostage” was returned.

Under US President Donald Trump’s comprehensive Gaza ceasefire plan, the next phases of the ceasefire are expected to see the IDF stage further withdrawals as an international transitional administration takes control and works to rebuild the devastated Strip.

“There will be no closure and no victory until everyone returns,” said the Forum.

In solidarity with “our brothers who are still in Gaza,” the Forum said, people at Hostages Square will be cued during the rally to snap in half the Forum’s military-style dog tags, which turned ubiquitous in Israel after the Hamas attack and which read, “Our heart is hostage in Gaza” and “Bring them home now.”

The Forum will also hold smaller rallies in dozens of locations across the country, including Jerusalem, Kiryat Gat and the Shaar HaNegev Junction in the south, it said.

Meanwhile, anti-government groups announced they would march from Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square to the Begin-Kaplan intersection, dubbed “Democracy Square” during the 2023 anti-overhaul protests.

In an announcement, the Hofshi Be’artzenu (Free in our Land) anti-government group said, “We rose three years ago to stop the overhaul, survived the biggest debacle in the history of the State of Israel, and now, we won’t stop until they’re held responsible and go home.”

The protest on Kaplan Street is set to feature speeches by The Democrats party chief Yair Golan and by Shikma Bressler, one of the most prominent activists behind the 2023 demonstrations.

Also speaking will be Ben Zoherman, whose father Motti was murdered at the Reim-area Nova music festival during the October 7 onslaught, and who is a member of the October Council, a group of victims’ families who demand a state commission of inquiry into the shock assault.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected such a commission, claiming it would be biased against him since it is formed by the judiciary, which his government has sought to weaken in the judicial overhaul. Critics say Netanyahu is trying to escape accountability and set up a more limited commission that will be more favorable to him.

Organizers vowed to “stop the regime overhaul, back the [judicial] gatekeepers and extend a hand for peace.”

The protest comes following the arrest of former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi for leaking surveillance footage from the Sde Teiman detention facility, which purported to show IDF soldiers severely abusing a Gazan detainee. The government has sought to appoint its own investigator for the leak, bypassing the judiciary, while claiming Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara may herself be a suspect.

At the same time, right-wing officials and top ministers have questioned the validity of the video while claiming it constituted a blood libel against soldiers — though there has been no substantial claim that the clip itself was falsified. Tomer-Yerushalmi came under intense attack for her role in disseminating it.

Tomer-Yerushalmi went missing for hours on Sunday before she was discovered alive and well on a Tel Aviv-area beach amid fears that she had harmed herself.

While Tomer-Yerushalmi was missing, some anti-government figures, including Bressler, accused Netanyahu’s allies of having driven the IDF’s former top lawyer to her death through their attacks on the former legal official. On Monday, in an announcement on the Saturday night protest, leading anti-government activist Ami Dror also said it was “a miracle” that Tomer-Yerushalmi was alive, “despite the murder machine’s attempt to eliminate her.”

In the meantime, police have since come to suspect that Tomer-Yerushalmi may have staged the suicide attempt to get rid of her phone, which is presumed to contain evidence in the case. A civilian swimmer discovered the phone in the sea by chance on Friday morning, and it was taken in for analysis.

On Wednesday, Hofshi Be’artzenu said in its own announcement of the Saturday night protest that the “grave suspicions” against Tomer-Yerushalmi, and a separate corruption investigation that emerged this week against the Histadrut labor union — and which is expected to extend to ministers from the ruling Likud party — were parts of an attempt “to tire, confuse and discourage” protesters and prevent them from continuing to demand the government’s resignation.