Thousands urge hostage release and elections at weekly rallies, as coalition teeters

Thousands of people rallied in cities across Israel on Saturday night for weekly protests demanding the return of hostages held in Gaza, as well as demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Saturday night’s rallies were held after the military announced it had recovered the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta, and ahead of a fateful week for Netanyahu’s coalition as Haredi parties threaten to bolt the government over its failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military conscription.

Ahead of the rallies, the father of hostage Eitan Horn appealed to US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to help secure his son’s release from Hamas captivity during a press conference of several hostages’ families outside IDF Headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Itzik Horn urged Witkoff to “set aside the Netanyahu framework for extending the war” and instead push a proposal to free all the captives and end the fighting in Gaza.

“Mr. Witkoff, it’s possible. If you return everyone, you will be remembered as one of the greatest Jews of all time,” Itzik Horn added.

“Present Netanyahu and Hamas with an offer with an ultimatum to end the war. This is likely the only way to return the hostages and save the State of Israel.”

‘Our country has decided not to bring the hostages home’

Speaking to some 1,500 people at the weekly rally at Hostages Square, which seeks to be apolitical, Ofir Angrest, brother of captive soldier Matan Angrest, slammed Netanyahu for the fact that none of the male captive soldiers have been returned to Israel except for Edan Alexander, a dual US-Israeli citizen released by Hamas as a gesture to the White House.

“The only victory image will be when you bring back a Zionist Israeli soldier, wrapped in a blue-and-white flag, with no foreign citizenship,” he said. “Because until now, you’ve brought back zero.”

Angrest said Netanyahu told him in a meeting that he was unaware of Matan’s harsh condition, including “asthma attacks after being interrogated and severely tortured, black eyes and facial fractures, and loss of consciousness a number of times when he was taken above ground moments before choking to death.”

Bar Godard, daughter of slain captive Manny Godard, said, “Our country has decided not to bring the hostages home.”

She called on the government to make a “brave, moral and human decision to end the war and bring everyone home.”

“Instead of that, we’re dragging ourselves into a never-ending war,” she said. “Prioritizing revenge over saving lives.”

Father of hostage Bar Kuperstein expressed his fear over his son’s condition: “How is he sleeping? Is he injured? He is also dealing today with the IDF bombardment.”

“We need a deal now that will return him and all the living hostages for rehabilitation and the slain hostages for burial,” he demanded.

Hundreds of anti-government protesters rallied at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, where speakers railed against Netanyahu’s efforts to codify Haredi exemptions, to prevent his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners from toppling the government.

Or Schwarzman, a 24-year-old who has clocked hundreds of days of reserve duty since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, slammed Netanyahu for holding “intense negotiations” on the Haredi draft exemption even as “the negotiations for the hostages languishing in the tunnels don’t interest anyone in this government.

“What is going through your head, that you even dare to talk about draft-dodging in days like these?” he asked.

Former deputy attorney general Dina Zilber accused government ministers of inciting against protesters and the judiciary.

“Who are the top inciters?” she asked. “Not some crazy fringe, but the Israeli government and its head.”

The rally began with a moment of silence for eight soldiers killed in combat over the past week.

In the middle of the square, protesters held up a large piece of yellow cloth, curling it so that it resembled the ubiquitous ribbon symbolizing the fight for the captives’ release.

On the south side of the square, left-wing protesters held their own small demonstration, unfurling a large banner calling for the creation of an independent Palestinian state. These protesters left ahead of the main rally to attend a silent vigil for slain Gaza children on Kaplan Street, where some 400 people held up candles and pictures of kids killed since Israel resumed hostilities against Hamas on March 18.

Each child’s picture included his or her name as well as the date and place of death.

The activists continued standing silently as anti-government protesters passed by on their march from Habima Square to Begin Road.

After Hamas published a photo of hostage Matan Zangauker next to what appeared to be an IV mechanism and threatened to kill him if troops approached the location where he was being held, his mother, Einav, told the 1,000-strong crowd on Begin Road: “I’m very worried about Matan’s physical and emotional state. I’m very afraid of a deterioration in his condition.”

“Our heart is broken by the knowledge that without Netanyahu’s political calculations, all this would have been avoided,” she said.

Addressing Netanyahu, Zangauker said her son’s “blood will stain your hands” if he fails to bring him back.

A block southward, cops clashed with left-wing activists holding signs accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza and calling on soldiers to refuse to serve in the Strip.

According to the activists, police blocked them for the second week running from joining the other protesters on Begin Road. Videos showed officers shoving protesters.

שוטרים דוחפים באלימות מפגינים מתנועת עומדים ביחד

07.06.2025 תל אביב pic.twitter.com/P1EZlII5XA

Advertisement

— אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) June 7, 2025

MK Gilad Kariv yelled at police that they were breaking the law as officers dragged an activist to the sidewalk.

“The hostages are in our hearts, but there is a wider viewpoint,” a man said, speaking through a megaphone to the gathering of some 100 people. “It all starts with our apathy toward the occupation, our apathy toward the Palestinian issue.”

Various pro-deal and anti-government protests were also held in Haifa, Beersheba, and other towns across the country.

At the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction near Gaza, torches were lit in memory of Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein Haggai — murdered hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza earlier in the week.

Emily Damari and Romi Gonen, who were released in January as part of a temporary deal between Israel and Hamas, joined the demonstration.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 55 hostages. They include the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF, and 20 are believed to be alive. There are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said.

Hamas released 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives during a ceasefire between January and March, and one additional hostage, a dual American-Israeli citizen, in May as a “gesture” to the United States. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war. In exchange, Israel has freed some 2,000 jailed Palestinian terrorists, security prisoners, and Gazan terror suspects detained during the war.

Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 44 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.

The body of another soldier killed in 2014, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is still being held by Hamas, and is counted among the 55 hostages.