Thousands of protesters rallied on Tuesday in Jerusalem, demonstrating against the government and demanding an immediate hostage deal, as the recent wave of protests continued to intensify in reaction to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to resume fighting in Gaza and his moves to fire the head of the Shin Bet and attorney general.

Tuesday’s demonstrations in the capital were divided into several areas near the government compound, with different sections for anti-government and hostage release protests and sit-ins.

A large group gathered outside the Prime Minister’s Office, where some family members of hostages gave speeches to the crowd, including the sister of freed hostage Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two young sons were murdered in captivity.

“Yarden returned alive, [but] Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir were returned dead in a coffin, I can’t run away from these words, from this reality,” Ofri Bibas Levy said. “Military pressure kills the hostages, military pressure raises the casualties.”

Addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, she said: “Don’t offer condolences, bring forth a deal,” adding that the only way to do so is to end the war in the Gaza Strip.

Outside the Knesset building, as the government voted on the 2025 state budget, several hundred anti-government protesters marched, with some yelling into bullhorns about the prime minister being “a dishrag” and accusing him of betraying Israeli values.

Police forcibly removed several protesters from outside the Knesset, and images and footage showed police officers dragging demonstrators one by one.

Speaking from the main stage in front of the government building, released hostage Nili Margalit spoke to the rally-goers, begging the government to reach a deal to free the remaining hostages in captivity.

Kibbutz Nir Oz resident Margalit was released in November 2023, after 54 days in captivity, during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas. During their brutal October 7, 2023, attack on Nir Oz, Hamas terrorists murdered Margalit’s father, Eliyahu, and abducted his body........

© The Times of Israel