Organizers claim largest-ever rally in Tel Aviv as calls for hostage deal intensify
Groups behind demonstrations estimate 500,000 at main protest, 250,000 at other rallies around country; police scuffle with activists blocking roads, arrest five
A crowd said to number in the hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv to rally for the release of hostages in Gaza Saturday night, amid ballooning protests demanding the government strike a ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group to secure the release of captives abducted exactly 11 months earlier.
With masses seething over the recent execution of six hostages who might have been freed in an exchange, and with the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre swiftly approaching, masses gathered in cities around the country to demonstrate against the government and press their case for a hostage deal.
Protest organizers estimated that 500,000 people attended the flagship rally in Tel Aviv, organized by the Hostage Families Forum — an estimate they claimed was confirmed by police. They said another 250,000 demonstrated in other areas around the country.
If true, the Tel Aviv rally would mark the largest-ever demonstration in Israel’s history.
Police announced that they detained five protesters at the Tel Aviv rally, but did not comment on crowd size.
Simultaneous protests were held in cities and at major intersections around the country, including Jerusalem, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Beersheba, Netanya and elsewhere, with organizers claiming tens of thousands in some places.
The protests, massive by any account, capped a week that saw major nightly demonstrations following the recovery of the bodies of six Israeli hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
Autopsies revealed that Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27, had been murdered just days earlier, sparking renewed denunciations against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over its inability to agree to a deal freeing them and scores of other hostages who remain in Gaza, as well as the bodies of dozens of others.
As with previous protests, the demonstration in Tel Aviv was marked by scuffles with police and attempts by activists to block major roads, including the Ayalon freeway.
Despite widespread criticism for not making more concessions in pursuit of a deal, Netanyahu has dug in on his position that Israel maintain an ongoing security presence on the Philadelphi Corridor, along the Gaza-Egypt border — reportedly a major sticking point in the ongoing negotiations with Hamas.
The large crowd size was partly the result of a decision by the Hostage Families Forum to merge its weekly Saturday night rally with anti-government protests held in parallel outside Defense Ministry headquarters for months. It was the first time the rallies formally joined together, as families fumed over what critics have said is government abandonment.
“I think even those who were maybe reluctant to go out, who are not used to protest, who are sad but prefer to be in private space within their sadness, understood our voice must join together to one huge scream: Bring the hostages with a deal. Do not risk their lives,” said one protester in Tel Aviv, Efrat Machikawa, niece of hostage Gadi Moses.
At the hostage Hostage Families Forum rally, Shay Dickmann told the crowd her cousin, Gat, “was so close” to being released as part of a deal put on the table in July. “But Netanyahu said no,” Dickmann said.
“[Last] Thursday, Carmel was alive. A terrorist put a Kalashnikov to her head, and when he felt the military pressure, he pulled the trigger. Military pressure led to her death,” Dickmann said, pushing back against the claim by Netanyahu and allies that military pressure is more effective than concessions.
Former hostage Danielle Aloni took aim at Netanyahu for recent gaffes in which he referred to the October 7 attacks as “the 9th of October” and “November 7.”
“Let me remind the prime minister, today is September 7, and today we mark exactly 11 months since the awful disaster. Who would believe that eleven months later, the hostages still wouldn’t be here,” she told the rally, according to the Ynet news site.
“As someone who was there in the tunnels, I can testify that they’re not just suffering, they’re also dying, very much dying,” Aloni added, referring to leaked comments in which Netanyahu reportedly told his cabinet that the hostages were merely suffering.
Also addressing the crowd was Andrey Kozlov, who was freed from Hamas captivity in June along with three other hostages in an Israeli rescue operation.
“I don’t know why, but I am blessed, I am here. Hersh, Eden, Carmel, Ori, Almog and Alex are not,” Kozlov said.
After the rallies merged, demonstrators marched on Begin Street, where they lit a bonfire that was repeatedly extinguished by police and then rekindled.
Protesters also blocked the Ayalon Highway, a regular occurrence at large protests in Tel Aviv, as well as the junction of Namir and Pinkas streets.
Police said the fires and roadblocks were the work of a “small cadre of protesters” after most demonstrators dispersed, accusing them of fighting with cops.
Most protesters had left the scene by 11:30 p.m.
Among those arrested was a minor who crossed the street after police said to clear off of it. The minor’s friend began arguing with the officer, and was shoved aside by other officers. In another instance, police appeared to choke a detainee.
Officers who dragged detainees toward the nearby Azrieli Towers were frequently followed by angry protesters chanting: “Officer! Officer! Whom are you protecting?”
Police also stepped in to break up scuffles between demonstrators and a group of far-right youth holding a counter-protest. Many right-wing groups have lined up behind Netanyahu, arguing that Israel should press its offensive aimed at destroying the Hamas terror group rather than try to free the hostages via a ceasefire agreement.
Police in Haifa, where thousands demonstrated for a deal, were accused of using excessive force as they cleared activists blocking Freud Street, with video showing protesters being thrown into a barbed wire placed near the road.
At least two protesters reportedly sought medical attention due to injuries allegedly caused by police.
שני מפגינים בחיפה למען עסקה הגיעו לבית החולים הערב אחרי ששוטרים השליכו אותם על גדר תיל שמוחים בעצמם הציבו במהלך המחאה. בתיעוד ניתן לראות כיצד השוטרים גוררים מפגין ממרכז הכביש והשליכו אותו אל עבר גדר התיל שנמצאת בצד, ואת הפנים המדממות של אחד המוחה שנזקק לטיפול רפואי pic.twitter.com/1NCUFvt0ei
— בר שם-אור Bar Shem-Ur (@Bar_ShemUr) September 7, 2024
In Caesarea, anti-government protesters gathered near one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residences, calling for his ouster.
In Jerusalem, demonstrators gathered outside the prime minister’s residence in the capital, carrying yellow flags representing the movement for the release of the hostages.
Chanting “the regime’s lies won’t bring about security,” protesters in Jerusalem called for an end to the war, the downfall of the government, and another general strike to build up economic pressure for a deal.
Gal Goren, whose parents Avner and Maya Goren were killed by Hamas, blamed Netanyahu for the hostages remaining in captivity. He called on demonstrators to continue the struggle for a hostage deal so that “we can reach October 8.”
The audience gave a long round of applause for Moshe Shapira, whose son Aner Shapira was killed at the Supernova rave on October 7 after fending off grenades thrown by terrorists. Shapira’s heroics saved some of those seeking shelter around him, including his friend Goldberg-Polin, who lost his arm but managed to survive over 11 months in Gaza until he was executed as Israeli troops closed in late last month.
At a protest in Carmei Gat, former hostage Adina Moshe, who was released in the November truce, said she told the Shin Bet official who debriefed her that troops were condemning hostages by trying to rescue them.
“When the IDF enters those tunnels, it is impossible to save the hostages,” she recalled saying, because Hamas “will kill them right away.”
“All my friends who were together with me in captivity in that tunnel were murdered — murdered by Hamas because the IDF approached,” she said.
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
