Thousands of Israelis are expected to protest across the country Saturday night against the government’s plan to take control of Gaza City after 22 months of war against Hamas, warning the move will mark a death knell for the hostages.
“A bright red flag is waving over the government’s decision to sacrifice our loved ones,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in a press release on its upcoming rallies. The Forum urged decision-makers: “Reach a comprehensive hostage deal, stop the war, bring us back our loved ones — their time is up.”
The cabinet decided overnight Thursday-Friday to seize Gaza City despite the military’s objection that the move would imperil the captives, needlessly endanger troops, and deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The decision, which has faced intense criticism at home and abroad, appeared to backtrack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated intent to conquer all of Gaza.
Also, on Saturday, Anat Angrest, whose son Matan Angrest is one of the remaining hostages, called for a general strike to oppose the decision.
“Dear mothers, friends, heads of the economy, the struggle is not only ours – the families of the hostages,” she wrote in a post on X. “Will you be with me when I call for everything to come to a stop, to strike?” she asked.
“It was decided to expand the war and conquer even at the cost of Matan’s life. And silence kills…” she wrote.
The Families Forum, which represents the majority of the hostage families, will hold rallies in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Shaar HaNegev Junction in the south and Kiryat Gat, with smaller gatherings in dozens of other locations.
After the central rally on Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, families and their supporters will hold a protest march around the nearby IDF headquarters, the Forum said.
Ahead of the rally, hostage families are also set to hold a “hunger display” at the Square in which they will sit around a table set for a meal of canned beans — the food served to hostage Evyatar David in propaganda footage released by Hamas last week that showed him severely emaciated.
Set to speak at Hostages Square are Eliya Cohen, who was released from Hamas captivity in February as part of the last truce-hostage deal, and his girlfriend Ziv Abud, who had campaigned for his release; Sharon Aloni Cunio, who was released with her young twin daughters in the weeklong November 2023 ceasefire and whose husband David Cunio remains in captivity; Ilana Gritzewsky, who was also released in the November deal and whose boyfriend Matan Zangauker remains in captivity; Lishay Miran Lavi, wife of hostage Omri Miran; Nira Sharabi, wife of slain hostage Yossi Sharabi and sister-in-law of released hostage Eli Sharabi; and Yuval Dancyg, son of slain hostage Alex Dancyg.
Anti-government protesters and hostage families will also rally a block away from Hostages Square, in front of the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters.
Israeli-Palestinian socialist collective Standing Together said it would rally shortly beforehand at the adjacent Shaul Hamelech light rail station, as well as other locations including Jerusalem and Haifa, calling to “refuse the occupation of Gaza.” The group also staged anti-war demonstrations in Arab communities in Haifa, Majd al-Krum and Baqa al-Gharbiya on Friday.
The protests follow fiery demonstrations by hostage families and their supporters in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Thursday, as the cabinet convened to make its decision.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 60,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 459. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.