Tel Aviv, Israel:
Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday waving Israeli flags and chanting slogans against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding new elections and the return of hostages being held in Gaza.
The Israeli city has seen large protests almost weekly over Netanyahu's handling of the nearly nine-month-old Gaza conflict, which began with an Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Many protesters held signs reading “Minister of Crime” and “Stop the War” as people gathered on a main road in Israel's largest city.
“I came here because I'm worried about my grandchildren's future. If we don't go out and oust this terrible government, they won't have a future,” said Shai Eler, a 66-year-old contractor.
“All those rats in the Knesset… I wouldn't let any of them be guards at a kindergarten.”
Anti-government protest group Hofshi Israel estimated that more than 150,000 people took part in the rally, saying it was the largest such gathering since the start of the Gaza war.
Some demonstrators smeared themselves with red paint and lay on the ground in the city's Democracy Square to protest what they say is the end of democracy in the country under Netanyahu's rule.
Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel's domestic security service, the Shin Bet, addressed the crowd and denounced Netanyahu as Israel's “worst prime minister.”
Many are unhappy with the country's right-wing coalition, which includes Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and other far-right radical nationalists, and accuse it of prolonging the war in Gaza, endangering the country's security and the hostages.
Yoram, a 50-year-old tour guide, who declined to give his surname, said he took part in every weekly protest because Netanyahu meant Israel needed elections “yesterday.”
“I really hope the government falls,” he said. “If we go back to the original election date of 2026, it will not be a democratic election.”
Hamas captured 251 hostages on October 7, of which Israel believes 116 remain in Gaza, and the military says 41 have been killed.
Another rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night drew thousands of relatives and supporters of the hostages.
According to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, 1,194 people were killed in attacks on Israel, most of them civilians.
The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip said Israel's retaliatory strikes had killed at least 37,551 people, the majority of them civilians.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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