Thousands of Israelis were set to protest Saturday night to demand new elections, as hostages’ families were to hold their weekly rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told ministers that he prioritized maintaining troops in the Philadelphi Corridor over saving the lives of those held in Gaza.
Titled “This is a lesson for all of us to learn,” the Hostages Square rally is set to begin at 8 p.m. and will highlight the start of the new school year on Sunday, with hundreds set to begin studies while their loved ones are still held in Gaza.
The rally comes ahead of an initiative that will see many children and teens wear yellow shirts for the first day of school to focus on the plight of those held by terrorists in Gaza.
Speakers at the Saturday night rally will include freed hostage Agam Goldstein-Almog; Devorah Idan, mother of hostage Tzahi Idan; Omri Shtivi, whose brother Idan Shtivi is held captive; Michel Illouz, father of hostage Guy Illouz; and Yael Adar, mother of Tamir Adar, whose body is held by terrorists.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Second Authority for Television and Radio, Israel’s commercial broadcast regulator, blocked the broadcast of a 20-second video highlighting concerns over the sexual abuse of hostages held in Gaza.
The video by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum shows the point of view of someone walking through a tunnel in Gaza, while screams and shouts are heard.
Several images, including a terrified face and what appears to be a silhouette of a pregnant woman flicker throughout the video.
Halfway through the video, a caption appears reading: “Over nine months have passed.”
The protest comes after it was reported Friday that Netanyahu apparently said a day earlier that a deal to secure the release of the hostages came second to maintaining an Israeli troop presence in the nine-mile narrow stretch in Gaza known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
Netanyahu has insisted that remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor is essential for Israel to prevent Hamas from resuming weapons smuggling across the border, and gradually rebuilding its strength.
The stance was shared during a heated security cabinet meeting in which the premier had the top ministerial body vote to approve a series of maps drawn up by the IDF, which showed how Israel aims to keep its troops deployed in the corridor during the first phase of the hostage-ceasefire being negotiated.
“You are deciding to stay in the Philadelphi Corridor. Is this logical to you? There are living [hostages] there!” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant exclaimed.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer replied, “The prime minister can do as he likes,” to which Gallant responded, “The prime minister can indeed make all the decisions, and he can also decide to kill all the hostages.”
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Mossad chief David Barnea also raised concerns about the prime minister’s strategy, with the military chief saying that the defense establishment would not have an issue with a temporary withdrawal during a ceasefire.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum responded to the leaked quotes from the security cabinet meeting by demanding that Netanyahu publicly declare that he has given up on the lives of hostages in favor of continued IDF presence on the Philadelphi Corridor.
“The quotes from the cabinet meeting should cause every Israeli citizen to lose sleep,” the forum said in a statement. “Every citizen should know that if they are to be kidnapped from their bed in their pajamas on a Saturday morning, their prime minister will do everything to keep his seat, even at the cost of leaving them to die in the Hamas tunnels in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, anti-government protesters were set to rally separately Saturday evening in Tel Aviv and nationwide from 7:30 p.m.
At the conclusion of the speeches, the protesters were to rally outside the Defense Ministry, along with many of the attendees of the hostage rally.
Protests in Tel Aviv, at the intersection of Begin and Kaplan Street, have been held every Saturday night since the movement against the government’s planned judicial overhaul began in January of last year — with the exception of a few-months-long hiatus following the Hamas terror onslaught on October 7.
Demonstrations were also set to be held Saturday evening in dozens of towns and cities including Jerusalem, Haifa, Eilat, Beersheba, Herzliya, Netanya, Modiin and Ra’anana.
The protests came as a Friday poll showed 69 percent of the public believe Netanyahu should not stand in the next elections.
The October 7 attack saw thousands of Hamas-led terrorists storm southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
It is believed that 103 of the hostages abducted on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 30 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.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far. The toll, which cannot be verified, does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.