(Web Desk) - Thousands of Israeli antigovernment protesters have gathered in Tel Aviv, among other parts of the country, to call on the government to reach a deal to free dozens of captives held by the Hamas group in Gaza and to hold early elections.
The demonstrators shouted slogans late on Saturday, expressing anger at Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for its inability to secure the release of the captives after six months of fighting.
Israeli media reported scenes of confrontations between security forces and protesters in Tel Aviv, where demonstrators reportedly started several fires, before they were quickly put out by the police.
People chanted “Police, police who exactly are you guarding?”, and “Ben-Gvir is a terrorist”, referring to Israel’s minister of national security, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
The protest organisers quoted by local media said rallies were taking place at about 50 other locations nationwide in addition to Tel Aviv.
Such Saturday protests have become a regular occurrence in Tel Aviv and other parts of the country, since the early months of the war that began on October 7.
Two protests merge
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Tel Aviv, said that two different rallies had merged on Saturday, and the huge turnout of protesters was likely to put a lot of pressure on Netanyahu.
“The ‘Bring Them Home Campaign’ now joined the antigovernment protesters,” he said.
“The former is the advocacy group for the hostages. For six months, they have been demanding the prime minister to release the Palestinian political prisoners and in turn, get the hostages back.
“Now, they are saying enough is enough. It has been six months and nothing has happened in terms of getting the majority of people out,” our correspondent added.
“All the speeches we heard tonight had two key messages: Netanyahu failed and the hostages have to come home now.”
Organisers of the antigovernment protests in Tel Aviv say that 100,000 people participated in the demonstrations, according to the Israeli media.