Israelis turned out in multitudes on Saturday to rally for the release of the hostages in Gaza, and they left no doubt about whom they credited for the captives’ imminent return.
“Thank you, Trump! Thank you, Trump!” the crowds filling the Tel Aviv plaza known as Hostages Square chanted in English as Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, spoke from the podium, flanked by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s daughter and son-in-law.
Mr. Witkoff spoke emotionally about the families of the hostages, saying their courage had affected him in ways he had never been before.
“I dreamed of this night,” he said, alluding to the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that he and Mr. Kushner helped negotiate, and that provides for the release of the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners by Monday.
“I only wish the president was here,” Mr. Witkoff added. “He would love this.”
Israelis have rallied in the thousands on Saturday nights for most of the past two years, demanding that all the captives still held in Gaza be brought back “Now!”
Those filling the square and the surrounding streets on Saturday night were hoping that this rally might be the last.
Under the terms of the cease-fire deal, which came into effect at noon Friday, all living hostages in Gaza should be returned to Israel within 72 hours. Israel believes that 20 of the hostages held by Hamas are still alive.
“Our struggle is not over and will not end until the last hostage returns home!” said the Hostages Families Forum, an organization that has advocated for a hostage deal throughout the war and represents many of their families.
“The entire nation holds its breath in anticipation” of the hostages’ return, the group added.
Rallies were also taking place at other locations around Israel, including in a square in Jerusalem near the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In contrast to the enthusiasm and gratitude shown to Mr. Trump and his aides, however, the crowd in Tel Aviv greeted Mr. Witkoff’s attempts to thank Mr. Netanyahu for his role in the cease-fire effort with loud boos.
Just weeks ago, Mr. Netanyahu criticized protesters who called for an end of the war and a deal to release the hostages, accusing them of “hardening Hamas’s stance” and pushing off the captives’ return.
Critics of the prime minister have accused him, in turn, of prolonging the war to appease his far-right political allies on whose support he relies to stay in power.
As part of the deal, the remains of hostages who died in captivity in Gaza would also be released. But it will most likely take longer for all the deceased hostages to be located and returned to Israel, according to the Israeli authorities.
The government has said that the remains of 26 hostages are believed to still be in Gaza, while the condition of two other people has not been confirmed. They are among the roughly 250 who were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and ignited the war.
In the months preceding the cease-fire deal, many Israelis said they were despondent and doubtful about whether the weekly rallies were having any effect on the government.
But many showed up nevertheless, saying that, if nothing else, they wanted to keep the hostages on the public agenda and support the captives’ families — assuring them that they were not alone.
“We understood that there wasn’t enough discourse about the hostages, we understood that we have to stand by the families,” said Yael Elraz Shapira, 57, an organizational psychologist who has attended most of the rallies.
“The least we could do was to show solidarity,” she said on Saturday as she was on her way to the square.
Ms. Elraz Shapira added that seeing other people each week who also felt it was important to be there had given her hope and a feeling that the long-polarized country could “begin to heal.”
The rallies did not go unnoticed by Mr. Trump, who in September announced a proposal to end the war that led to the cease-fire agreement. He appeared flattered by the appeals of demonstrators, who increasingly focused on him and his leadership as their only hope to get their loved ones home, with many holding banners that called for his personal intervention.
Standing alongside Mr. Netanyahu at the White House late last month, presenting the outline of the proposal, Mr. Trump referred to the rallies. “They have my name up. They like me,” he said.
He added, “They say two things, please get the hostages back and please end the war. They’ve had it.”
The main rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday also featured speeches by former hostages who were released during the last brief cease-fire, and the relatives of those still in Gaza, as well as performances by some of Israel’s top musicians, including the singer Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the October 2023 attack.
Isabel Kershner, a Times correspondent in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990.
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