Israelis protest Netanyahu and want a peace deal with Hamas

There have been some of the biggest protests against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Tel Aviv since 2023. They want a truce deal to free prisoners being held in Gaza.

A giant group of people stopped a highway to the occupied city of al-Quds on Wednesday, and hundreds of people showed up to protest in Tel Aviv.

They had signs with pictures of the faces of people being held hostage in Gaza or signs that said the fighting had to stop right away.

One group yelled, “If there’s no deal, we’ll burn the country down.”

Since March 18, when Netanyahu resumed heavy airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, thousands of people have held days of protests against him. He broke a two-month ceasefire that had brought some peace to the Palestinian region and freed Israeli prisoners.

After the protest in Tel Aviv’s business district, people are going to al-Quds for a gathering outside of parliament on Wednesday evening to oppose a bill that would give politicians more power over choosing judges.

Polls indicate that most Israelis don’t want the calm to end and want talks with Hamas to keep going.

Many view Tel Aviv’s resumption of the deadly war in Gaza as a betrayal. They think that Netanyahu and his government are abandoning the surviving prisoners and leaving them to die in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Hamas said again that prisoners could be killed if Israel tries to get them back by force, and bombings in Gaza are still going on.

In a statement, the opposition group said, “We are doing everything possible to protect the lives of the prisoners of the occupation, but the random Israeli bombing puts their lives in danger.”

There are still 58 prisoners in Gaza, and the Israeli military says 34 of them are dead.