Tens of thousands of Israelis protested the far-right government across Israel on Saturday evening, November 9, and calling for the return of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and marking 400 days of their captivity. The main rally was held as usual in last weeks at the entrance of the Israeli army headquarters at Begin Road, in central Tel Aviv. A block away, some 500 people assembled at Hostages Square for the weekly rally organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

“Ceasefire now!”, members of the youth wing of Communist Party of Israel and Hadash activists during the protest held at Begin Road in Tel-Aviv, Saturday, November 9, 2024 (Photo: Zo Haderech)

The crowd was larger than in recent weeks and the rally on Begin Road was the first since the major one that spontaneously unfolded on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who was a proponent of a hostage-ceasefire deal. Though political parties are usually absent from the Begin Road protest, as in every week the youth wing of Communist Party of Israel and Hadash activists participated in the gathering demanding the end of the war and the occupation of the Palestinian territories. 

In the massive rally there was a sign reading “Why are they still in Gaza? 400 days” hung from the pedestrian overpass down to street level, while big white cardboard letters on the street spelled out: “400 days — the shame of Netanyahu.”

Protests calling against Netanyhau’s government and for the release of hostages were also held Saturday evening in Jerusalem, Beersheba, Haifa, Kfar Sava, Raanana Junction, Nes Ziona, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat, Rehovot, Karkur Junction, the southern Shaar HaNegev crossroad, Zikhron Yaacov and other localities. Five people were arrested in Jerusalem, Haifa and Karkur.  At Haifa the police attacked again a protest vigil at Central Carmel, Activists from the Anti-Occupation Bloc, among them Hadash activists, demanded the end of the deadly war in Gaza and Lebanon and during the protest cops confiscated signs against the massacre in Gaza. 

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32219