Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday, demanding an immediate ceasefire after the discovery of six hostages who were reportedly killed in Gaza.
The protests, organized by the Hostage Families Forum in collaboration with Israel’s largest labor union, drew an estimated 500,000 participants in cities across Israel. These demonstrations mark the largest public outcry since the war began 11 months ago.
In Tel Aviv, protesters marched with symbolic coffins representing the slain hostages and ignited fires on a major highway, causing a complete halt in traffic. The protests were triggered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announcement that the bodies of Carmel Gat, 40; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Alexander Lobanov, 33; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Ori Danino, 25, were found in a tunnel in southern Gaza on Saturday.
According to the Israeli Health Ministry, post-mortem examinations revealed that the hostages had been shot at close range, with their deaths occurring on Thursday or Friday. IDF Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani stated that the bodies were discovered several dozen meters underground during ongoing combat, though no firefight took place in the tunnel itself.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Hamas for the killings, accusing the group of murdering the hostages “in cold blood” and vowed to hold them accountable. Netanyahu also accused Hamas of undermining ceasefire negotiations, stating, “Whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal.”
In contrast, Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, blamed Israel and the United States for the deaths, claiming the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it supported back in July.
Protesters also gathered outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, where they tied yellow material over their eyes and set off red-colored flares, accusing the Prime Minister of prioritizing his political future over the lives of the hostages by imposing conditions on ceasefire deals that Hamas would never accept.
