Hundreds of thousands of Israelis demand a hostage deal with Hamas

Twenty-two months ago, on October 7, Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 815 civilians, and taking 251 hostages with them. Fifty of them are still held by Hamas. 

In retaliation, the Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who today insists on his plan as the only viable option, has killed almost 62,000 Palestinians and injured more than 144,000, according to the NGO Rescue. Over 90 per cent of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, leaving nearly 2 million Palestinians or 90 per cent of the population, displaced, many of them on multiple occasions. The UN’s Human Rights Office verified that 70 per cent of those killed by Israel are women and children. UN.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported in May 2025 that 470,000 Palestinians face catastrophic hunger, the most severe classification on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale. The same report reveals that since March, 2 million Palestinians have no access to critical food assistance because of Israel’s humanitarian aid blockade.

“What we are witnessing today in Gaza is not the tragic by-product of war. It is a strategy of deprivation and control, with children and mothers paying the ultimate price,” wrote TRT.

Most Israelis want the war to end

Today, Sunday, August 17, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets of their country in a nationwide grassroots strike and widespread protest to demand that the government secure the release of the 50 hostages that Hamas still holds.

The demonstrators have expressed firm opposition to Netanyahu’s recent decision to expand the war and take over Gaza City, saying it could cost the lives of soldiers and hostages.

“We are shutting down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages,” said the relatives of the hostages in Tel Aviv, according to CNN. The October 7 Council, which represents bereaved families of soldiers who fell at the start of the war, are also demonstrating.

74% back a deal with Hamas

“Today, we stop everything to save the lives of 50 hostages and soldiers. Today, we stop everything to remember the supreme value of the sanctity of life,” said Anat Engrest, whose son Matan is held hostage in Gaza, CNN reported in a separate article.

Polls have repeatedly shown a large majority in Israel support a ceasefire deal to release all of the hostages in exchange for an end to the war.

Seventy-four per cent of Israelis, including 60 per cent of people who voted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, back an agreement with Hamas that would release all the hostages at once in exchange for an end to the Gaza war, according to the Times of Israel.

Dozens of arrests in largest protest since 2023

AP reported that Israeli police made dozens of arrests as protesters aimed to shut down the country in one of the largest and fiercest protests in 22 months of war. 

“We don’t win a war over the bodies of hostages,” protesters chanted, AP added. Even some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs now call for a deal to end the fighting.

“The only way to bring (hostages) back is through a deal, all at once, without games,” former hostage Arbel Yehoud said at a demonstration in Tel Aviv. Her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, is still held by Hamas.

‘The horrors of Oct. 7 will be repeated

Netanyahu responded to the protesters’ demands. “Those who today call for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’ position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will be repeated.” 

One protester carried a photo of an emaciated Palestinian child from Gaza. Such images were previously rare, but now appear more often as outrage grows over conditions for Palestinian civilians after more than 250 malnutrition-related deaths.