Tel Aviv — Israel’s streets erupted in a wave of mass protests, as tens of thousands of citizens denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reckless Gaza war and demanded the release of hostages whose plight had been ignored by a government obsessed with military escalation.
The demonstrations, led by hostage families, turned highways into battlefields of dissent. Major arteries, including the Jerusalem–Tel Aviv corridor, were blocked with burning tires and chanting crowds. For many Israelis, the strikes symbolized not only desperation for their captive relatives but also disgust with a leadership dragging the country deeper into an unwinnable war of destruction.
“We are shouting for life,” said Anat Angrest, mother of hostage Matan Angrest, her voice cracking with rage. “But Netanyahu and his ministers only know how to gamble with death, the death of Palestinians, the death of our sons, and the death of this country’s future.”
Across Haifa, Beersheba, and Ashdod, ordinary citizens joined in a collective rebuke of the regime. Police confronted protesters, but anger spilled over, echoing accusations that Israel’s far-right coalition is prolonging Gaza’s annihilation to cling to power. Even Israeli reservists, once pillars of the state’s military machine, have turned against Netanyahu, accusing him of sacrificing lives for political survival.
The protests also gained international attention when actress Gal Gadot joined hostage families in Tel Aviv. But her presence only underscored the bitter irony: while Israel parades its celebrities for global sympathy, its war machine continues to Gaza genocide into famine and rubble, killing more than 62,000 Palestinians since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Israel’s defiance of a proposed ceasefire, already accepted by Hamas and backed by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, further exposes Netanyahu’s duplicity. The deal, which would have freed hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and allowed humanitarian aid into Gaza, remains blocked by his refusal to admit failure.
Inside Gaza, humanitarian agencies describe a man-made catastrophe. Famine grips children, entire neighborhoods lie in ruins, and starvation has become Israel’s chosen weapon of war. The Israeli regime continues its ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza with Western support, as Netanyahu’s coalition insists it will fight “until victory,” a phrase now synonymous with endless slaughter and the erasure of Palestinian life.
According to Reuters, the August 17 nationwide strike represented a turning point, as hostage families, veterans, and ordinary citizens united in fury against a government that has led Israel into isolation, moral collapse, and a war that has destroyed Gaza while failing even to rescue its own.
