Over 500,000 Protesters Flood Israeli Streets Demanding Immediate Acceptance of Gaza Ceasefire Deal
On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets, demanding a ceasefire after six hostages were reportedly found murdered in Gaza.
An estimated 500,000 people participated in planned demonstrations across multiple cities in Israel, according to the Hostage Families Forum, which organized the protests in collaboration with Israel’s largest labor union. The protests are said to be the largest since the war began 11 months ago.
In Tel Aviv, protesters marched with coffins to symbolize the slain hostages and set fires on one of the city’s main motorways, bringing traffic to a standstill.
The protests were ignited after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported the discovery of the bodies of Carmel Gat, 40; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Alexander Lobanov, 33; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Ori Danino, 25, in a tunnel in southern Gaza on Saturday. The Israeli Health Ministry confirmed that post-mortem examinations indicated the hostages were shot at close range, likely on Thursday or Friday.
IDF Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani stated that the bodies were found several dozen meters underground amid ongoing combat, though no firefight occurred in the tunnel itself.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of killing the hostages in “cold blood” and vowed to hold the group accountable, claiming Hamas was obstructing ceasefire efforts. “Whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal,” Netanyahu said.
On the other hand, senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq blamed the hostages’ deaths on Israel and the U.S., arguing that the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a ceasefire proposal that Hamas claimed to have agreed to in July.
Protesters have accused Netanyahu of prioritizing his political future over the hostages’ safety and placing conditions on potential ceasefire deals that Hamas is unlikely to accept.
Additional protests were held outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, where demonstrators symbolically tied yellow material over their eyes and set off red-colored flares.