People take part in a rally against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, at Habima Square, March 29, 2025. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90
Tens of thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, between Begin Street and the Kirya (military headquarters), to demand a hostage deal and protest against recent government actions.
After two weeks of near daily demonstrations for the hostages and against the government, crowds of protesters began to appear even before the official start time of 7 p.m.
Many held signs about the hostages, including some with pictures from the video of the hostage, Elkana Bohbot, who was seen in a Hamas propaganda film begging for his life. Hamas released the video on Saturday afternoon. It came after a previous video showing Elkana and Yosef-Haim Ohana was released five days earlier.
During a rally at Hostages Square, Einav Tzangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Tzangauker, accused the government of choosing to return to fighting and abandoning the 59 remaining hostages.
“My Matan is living in these moments,” said Tzangauker, “in these very moments he is there, in the tunnels of hell. Not alone, but alongside a living kidnapped person with foreign citizenship, who is expected to be released in a deal that is now being made. And my Matan? He will be left behind alone in hell.”
“The hostages are held captive by Hamas, and the entire nation of Israel is held captive by Netanyahu.” Einav said, before stating, “we need one comprehensive deal, without postponements and games and without selections between hostages.”
Yair Horn, who was released from captivity last month, said, “I was held captive by Hamas for 498 days. 498 days underground, without water, without seeing the sun, without breathing fresh air. For 498 days in Hamas captivity, I lived ‘without’. I don’t want ‘without’ anymore, I’m tired of ‘without.’”
Horn addressed Minister of Strategic Affairs and head of the negotiating team, Ron Dermer, saying, “I invite you to my house – sit with my mother Ruthie, with my brother Amos and with me, and explain to us why we will have a Seder without Eitan for another year.”
Horn told the protesters that resuming combat endangers the hostages.
“I was there,” he said. “I heard tanks passing over me, I ran through the tunnels during the bombings, and I pulled Eitan out by the arm when he didn’t have the strength to move anymore.”
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai also addressed the crowds, while many in the audience chanted “Strike! Strike!”
During his speech, Huldai said the State of Israel is indeed at war, but said it was “because the government is trying to demolish the ground we’ve stood on for almost 80 years – the foundations of a Jewish and democratic state.”
Huldai also threatened strikes if the government persisted with Judicial Reform legislation.
“If we have to fill the streets to remind them that we are the majority, we will do it,” Huldai stated. “And if the government decides to violate the Supreme Court’s ruling, we, in the local authorities, will also know how to disrupt and interrupt the routine life that the government imagines will continue.”
Yotam Cohen, the brother of the abducted soldier Nimrod, accused Netanyahu of being “determined to remain in his seat at any price, even at the cost of an eternal war and the lives of hostages and soldiers.”
Cohen also accused Netanyahu of behaving like Hamas. He said Netanyahu has accused protesters of strengthening Israel’s enemies, including Hamas. He compared this to the Hamas’ recent statement that protesters in Gaza are “friends of the Zionist enemy.”
In Jerusalem, a protest march took place from Zion Square to Paris Square, where the main demonstration for the release of the hostages and against the government was held. Shaul Levi, the grandfather of Naama, who was released in January, said that he had lost faith in the country’s leaders.
“I want to replace them, and I will fight as long as I have breath so that darkness will turn into light,” he said.
Levi called on Netanyahu to “rescue and return the hostages – the living to their families and the dead to a proper burial. This is your supreme duty and you should not waste it.”
A demonstration was also held in the south at the entrance to Ofakim. At the Sha’ar Hanegev junction, Lishai Miran Lavi, the wife of hostage Omri Miran, said the Cabinet was not interested in returning the hostages.
“Woe to all of us if my children’s father doesn’t come back alive,” Miran Lavi said, “because he’s been surviving there for 540 days in his life. I’m a hostage and we’re all hostages until they come back.”
Day 540. No words today—only Oseh Shalom prayers.
For Omri. For me and Dani, Omri’s father. For Alma and Roni. For 59 worlds held captive in Gaza. For the people of Israel and the people of the world. For a better tomorrow—one rooted in compassion.
Good night 🎗 pic.twitter.com/U1p1zGX5mg
— Lishay Miran-Lavi (@LishayLM) March 29, 2025
Protests are expected to continue this week, despite the Knesset recess, in the background of the recent Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire extension during Eid el-Fitr and the Passover period.
