Israeli tanks rolled further into the outskirts of Gaza City on Wednesday, forcing more Palestinian residents to flee as the Israeli military prepared to carry out the Israeli government’s plan to conquer and take out what they have described as “Hamas’ last bastion.”
A day earlier, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets once again to urge the government to agree to a deal to bring all the 50 remaining hostages home.
“No [political] left, no [political] right, above all, the hostages,” the protesters chanted as they marched toward Hostage Square in central Tel Aviv. The area has become a symbol of the fight to return the hostages taken during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023. Among the protesters on Tuesday was Naama, a psychology student who lost one of her close friends in the militant attack at the Nova music festival.
“I am here to support the families, and that’s the minimum I can do. I don’t have any control over what is happening. For two years, it has been a roller coaster of hope and desperation,” Naama, who declined to give her last name, told DW at the square.
She said she wanted to believe that the Israeli government was doing everything it could to end , “because if I didn’t believe this, I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. I really hope that they are not turning a blind eye to what is happening here.”
‘Day of Disruption’ aimed to end war in Gaza
Tuesday’s protests were organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the majority of the families, and were scheduled to coincide with a Security Cabinet meeting.
However, Israeli media reported that the meeting did not even discuss a recent ceasefire deal accepted by Hamas, instead adjourning early to allow ministers to attend a celebratory dinner in honor of the recent legalization of 17 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Some members of ‘s far-right coalition cabinet even accused the protesters of “helping Hamas” and harming them with their demonstrations.
“The rioters in the service of Hamas are back,” Hanoch Milwidsky, a senior lawmaker in Netanyahu’s Likud party, posted on X on Tuesday, alongside a video of protesters burning tires on a highway.
At a stall selling T-shirts and pins in support of the hostages, Dan Perlman, a volunteer, tried to sound optimistic. “All of us are here have a gram of hope that things will change, although there is a lot of disappointment. My mum, who has been volunteering here since day 3 is probably more optimistic than me. I am not. I think it is crazy to continue this situation forever and ever,” he said.
Israel yet to respond to latest ceasefire deal
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker who is still being held by Hamas, told the assembled crowd in Tel Aviv that “the entire nation is buckling under the burden of this government.” She criticized Netanyahu for continuing “his campaign of scuttling the deals” of a potential ceasefire with Hamas.
Other speakers addressed US President Donald Trump directly in English, calling on him to intervene and pressure the Israeli government to end the war.
International mediators have said they are still waiting for a formal response from Israel regarding the current US-backed ceasefire agreement, which Hamas agreed to last week. A representative of Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, which has been coordinating talks between the two sides, said “attempts to stall by shifting locations or other tactics are clear to the international community, and it is time for Israel to give a serious answer to what it has already agreed to in the past.”
Netanyahu recently appeared to have shifted from pursuing a partial deal, which would have seen the release of 10 living hostages and 18 deceased hostages in exchange for Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. Now, he seems only willing to discuss a comprehensive deal to release all 50 hostages.
However, at the same time, Netanyahu has also ordered the Israeli military to speed up preparations for its ground offensive in Gaza City. He has dismissed warnings from his chief of staff that a large-scale assault on Gaza City would endanger the lives of approximately 20 hostages believed to still be alive, angering many relatives and former hostages.
“I am not willing to sacrifice anyone on the altar of the messianic ambition of destroying Hamas,” said former hostage Gadi Moses in an interview with Army Radio on Tuesday. He said Hamas’ conditions had not changed since October 2023, and that the Israeli government has to agree to a deal. “They [Hamas] have not backed down from their position. They keep saying the same thing: end the fighting and leave Gaza.”
More than 62,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza war
The Israeli army’s latest plan to push into Gaza City will be catastrophic for Palestinians already struggling to survive famine, displacement and continuous bombardment. Although the full invasion is reportedly planned for mid-September, Israel has continued to attack Gaza in recent days, with tanks pushing into several Gaza City neighborhoods amid intense global anger over a double Israeli strike on a Khan Younis hospital on Monday that killed 20 people, including medical personnel and five journalists.
Among the protesters, a tiny minority is also advocating for an end to Palestinian suffering in Gaza. However, a recent poll by the aChord center suggested that 42% of the Jewish public agrees with the government’s claim that there are no innocents in Gaza, while 34% partially agree with this.
“The number of Palestinian victims is above 62,000 now, among them many children,” Maya Rosenfeld, a sociologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who took part in another demonstration on Saturday night in Jerusalem, told DW. “If we have reached this point and this hasn’t caused a larger part of Israeli society to come out to the streets for the sake of the Palestinians, I am not sure that such a transformation will take place in the near future.”
In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Israelis have received their call-up notices to report for army reserve duty from September 2 onward. It’s unclear how many will respond, having already served several tours in Gaza, on Israel’s borders with or or in the occupied West Bank over the last 22 months.
“So many people have children in the army and it’s almost impossible for them to look upon their children as those who are committing genocide,” said Rosenfeld, referring to the international debate to describe the war in Gaza as genocide. “And they believe that maybe that once all this is over, they will be able to return to their regular lives as if nothing happened.”
Dan Cohen, who also took part in Saturday’s protest, said it was important for him to remind the government that they are supposed to serve the people, not the other way around.
As he spoke with DW, a lone, far-right protester held up a sign nearby in Hebrew that read, “Occupation, deportation, settlement” — a slogan echoing the policies promoted by some of Netanyahu’s cabinet members for Palestinians in Gaza. Polls have, however, consistently suggested that up to 80% of the Israeli public supports a deal and an end to the war — mostly out of concern about the impact on Israeli society and economy. But not everyone is out in the streets.
“Our voice and our demand to end the war, to end the suffering, to bring the hostages back is a very important voice, not only outside of Israel, but mostly inside of Israel,” said Cohen. “These voices, are echoed by a lot of people indoors and in conversations at home, we are taking it out to the streets and making sure that people will see it.”
Edited by: M. Kübler
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