Tens of thousands of Israelis protested across Israel against the war in Gaza and for a hostage release deal on Saturday night, October 6, after Israel said it was preparing to restart talks with Hamas following the acceptance of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza cease-fire proposal. Trump expresses his appreciation that “Israel has temporarily stopped the bombing in order to give the hostage release and peace deal a chance to be completed.” However Israeli occupation forces fire killed 66 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded a further 265 over the past 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry reported Saturday.
Thousands of Arabs and Jews marched in the Arab town of Sakhnin in northern Israel to mark 25 years since the deadly October 2000 events and against the war in Gaza, Saturday, October 4, 2025 (Photo: Zo Haderekh)
The ministry’s overall death toll has risen to 67,139, with 169,583 wounded since October 7, 2023. The ministry’s death toll included 720 people whose deaths were recently confirmed by a legal committee dealing with missing persons. Over the past day, two children died of malnutrition and hunger, the Health Ministry reported, bringing the total of cases of death by malnutrition to 459, including 154 children.
In Tel Aviv tens of thousands gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square and thousands more outside the army headquarters, a block away, to rally for a Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal. A huge placard proclaims: “It’s Now or Never.”
A smaller, Hadash and left-wing protest take place at the Begin-Shaul Hamelech intersection, between the two other demonstrations, with activists, many of them Hadash and Communist Party of Israel holding signs accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and demanding the end of the war and the occupation of the Palestinian territories. Across the street from them on Begin, where protesters pass through to any of the three demonstrations, a handful of fascist activists taunt protesters, accusing them of being “traitors”.
Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan, expressed concern Saturday evening that far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir would attempt to thwart plans to end the war. She said in a statement outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, “These are critical days, the saboteurs of negotiations are mobilizing to pressure Netanyahu – we must stand as a wall against them. We cannot abandon the negotiating arena to saboteurs; we cannot miss this opportunity. I call on the citizens of this country – take to the streets with us.”
Earlier thousands of Arabs and Jews marched in the Arab town of Sakhnin in northern Israel to mark 25 years since the deadly October 2000 events, protests that erupted after then-opposition chair Ariel Sharon visited the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, which ended with the deaths of 13 Arab-Palestinian. The city’sMayor Mazem Ghanaim told Haaretz that Israeli police conditioned the approval of the march on reducing the route to a few hundred meters and prohibiting the waving of Palestinian flags and slogans in support of Gaza. “It’s clear that the police came to provoke; there’s no reason for this presence except agitation,” he said. During the march, he urged to “halt the racism and discrimination against the Arab public,” and called for an “end to the war and killing in Gaza, and a hostage prisoner deal.”
On Friday left-wing activists led a protest at the Gaza border calling to end the genocide and break the siege on Gaza. They marched by land in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla calling to release the hundreds of international activists arrested. They successfully crossed into Gaza’s territory and disrupted military equipment from entering the strip and troops from exiting. Three activists were arrested including young Communist refusenik Itamar Greenberg and others faced extreme violence from the police and occupation soldiers. Another demonstration in solidarity with the Sumud flotilla and against the genocide in Gaza was held on Friday afternoon by Hadash and the Partnership for Peace coalition at Jaffa.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33018
