Large protests against government's hostage policy

Large-scale protests were held in the streets of several cities all over Israel on Sunday evening calling for the government to finalize a deal with Hamas for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and a return of the remaining Israeli hostages. The number of people protesting (and counter-protesting) is estimated to include nearly 500,000 Israelis, with nearly 300,000 joining the rally Sunday evening in Tel Aviv.

Although there have been demonstrations against the government's handling of this war in general and the hostage crisis in particular for several months now, this large uptick in the demonstrations was prompted by the grisly discovery on Sunday morning of the bodies of six hostages in a tunnel underneath Rafah. The six hostages had apparently been shot several times at close range just a few hours before the IDF troops searching for them arrived at their location. The Hamas terrorists who carried out these murders subsequently fled and their whereabouts are unknown.

The slain hostages included Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, an American citizen, as well as Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.

All but Gat were kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7th, and there had been great hopes that they would be rescued alive, but these hopes have been shattered and Israelis are having a difficult time processing their grief and anger.

Many are placing the blame for the murder of these hostages at the feet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because of his refusal to agree to the terms Hamas is demanding in return for the remaining hostages.

This includes an IDF withdrawal from the Philidelphia Corridor, which marks the border between Israel and Egypt. Netanyahu says that his reasons for refusing to agree to this demand include his assessment that Hamas will use this border, and the tunnels they will dig underneath it, to smuggle in the weapons and supplies they will need to carry out attacks against Israel in the future. Despite assurances from the military establishment that the IDF could be re-deployed there if necessary, he believes diplomatic pressure would make this impossible.

However, he is being accused by some in the opposition and even in his own Likud Party of having political reasons unrelated to Israel's security for making this decision.

“Out of love for the Israeli state and society, out of real anxiety for our future, I will come to the protest in Tel Aviv tonight, and I call on all of you to show up with Israeli flags,” said National Unity leader Benny Gantz in a video to the public earlier Sunday. “Come and make your voices heard. Let’s call for unity and true commitment to our hostages, our fighters, our children, and the future of the country."