Tens Of Thousands Of People In Israel Held A Huge Protest Against The Government’s War On Gaza
The demonstration on Sunday, March 31, marked the largest anti-government protest since Israel launched its war on Gaza on Oct. 7.
Tens of thousands of people have held a massive demonstration outside the Israeli parliament building in Jerusalem, urging the government to secure a ceasefire deal to release hostages held in Gaza and calling for early elections.
The demonstration on Sunday, March 31, marked the largest anti-government protest since Israel launched its war on Gaza on Oct. 7.
The protest spread across several kilometres surrounding the Knesset, the parliament building, with protesters vowing to continue the march for the next few days.
The protesters waved Israeli flags, calling for the removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving leader, and chanted slogans of “Elections now”.
They blamed Netanyahu for the security failure that led to Hamas’ surprise attack on Oct. 7 and accused him of not taking sufficient measures to ensure the 131 hostages still held in Gaza are released.
Protesters say his attempt to push through a reform to weaken the power of the supreme court led to political divisions that weakened Israel ahead of the attack.
Others say that Netanyahu has damaged Israel’s relationship with the US, its staunchest ally.
“We believe that no hostages will come back with this government because they’re busy putting sticks in the wheels of negotiations for the hostages,” Boaz Atzili, a family member of the hostages, told AP. “Netanyahu is only working in his private interests.”
Liat was released but Aviv was killed, and his body is in Gaza.
“This government is a complete and utter failure. And the only way they will lead us into the abyss, that we will never come out of,” a 74-year-old protester named Nurit Robinson told Reuters.
Other protesters told Al Jazeera’s reporter that they would be sleeping in tents as part of their protest and that they want to oust Netanyahu as they are “fed up with his policies.”
Another demonstration took place on Sunday in Tel Aviv, where a scuffle broke out between protesters and security police during the march as they called for the government to step down.
Just a night before, on Saturday, March 30, the families of the hostages joined the anti-government protesters in solidarity.
In November, Israel’s government and Hamas agreed to a week-long ceasefire that saw the release of more than 100 hostages in exchange for some Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
But progress has stalled on a new deal for a ceasefire and releasing the captives since.
Speaking in a televised address before a hernia surgery later on Sunday, Netanyahu said he understood the families’ pain.
But he added that new elections “in the midst of the war, the moment before victory, would “paralyze the country.”
He also vowed to press on with the plan to invade Rafah, where over 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped with nowhere to go, saying, “there is no victory without going into Rafah.”
Israel’s airstrikes and ground offensive have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza since Oct. 7.
