Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Tel Aviv and several other cities, demanding the removal of Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the regime, who has failed to secure a deal to end hostilities in Gaza and bring Israeli detainees home.
Demonstrations were held in Tel Aviv, al-Quds, Haifa, and several other towns on Saturday, with angry protesters calling for the release of those detained by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas almost six months ago.
In al-Quds, hundreds of people gathered outside Netanyahu’s residence on Saturday evening, calling on him to resign.
They held Netanyahu’s picture next to a banner that read, “UR the boss, UR to blame.”
Police used water cannon to disperse protesters and arrested 16 people.
Among the protesters were the families of those detained by Hamas during Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Palestinian resistance movement detained 253 people during the operation. The regime says 132 are still in Gaza, of whom 104 are thought to be alive.
Hamas demands the release of hundreds of prisoners held in Israeli jails in return for 40 Israel detainees, in addition to a permanent ceasefire in the besieged territory.
Netanyahu, however, has so far refused to accept the deal.
The families of the detainees say Netanyahu has “abandoned our families on October 7.”
They called out that they “will not stop until they’re all home”, chanting “enough killing, enough despair.”
Einav Zangauker, the mother of an Israeli detainee said Netanyahu is “continually engaged in torpedoing a deal,” to bring home the detainees from the Gaza Strip.
“If we don’t immediately act to move you (Netanyahu] away from the steering wheel, we won’t get to see our loved ones returning home alive and fast, and we won’t get to see our dead returned for burial in Israel.”
Under intense pressure to bring the detainees home, Netanyahu on Friday approved a new round of ceasefire talks to take place in Doha and Cairo.
More demonstrations are still planned in the evening outside the Knesset (the regime’s parliament) in al-Quds, and every night until Wednesday, according to organizers.
Saturday’s protestants were the biggest since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October, cording to organizers.
