Thousands of Israelis demonstrated last night to protest the way the war in the Gaza Strip is being waged by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and to demand early elections.

Overnight, Israeli police said in a statement that nine arrests had been made, some for resisting authority or attacks on law enforcement agencies, adding that members of the police were “slightly injured.”

The demonstration was organized roughly a week after centrist Benny Gantz and Ghandi Eisenkot, former chiefs of the national defense general staff, resigned from the wartime government before the body, which was created after the October 7 attack by Hamas, was finally disbanded yesterday.

The withdrawal of the two forms of the opposition, which joined the government as a sign of national unity, has no effect on the majority of Likud, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right-wing party, and its allies, far-right and ultra-Orthodox factions, in the Knesset (the Israeli parliament ).

Protesters gathered in front of the Knesset and in front of Mr. Netanyahu’s residence yesterday to demand that the head of government resign and early elections be called.

“Every action” of Prime Minister Netanyahu “leads to the destruction of Israel. He is responsible for what happened on October 7,” complained Moshe Sadarovic, 73, a retired engineer.

“I am satisfied that people took to the streets. I hope this continues. We must lay siege to Jerusalem, the Knesset. We have to paralyze the country so that this government falls,” said Yaakov Gondo, whose son Tom was killed in the attack by Hamas’ military arm in southern Israel on October 7.

That day’s attack, unprecedented in statehood, killed 1,194 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.

Another 251 were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip, of whom 116 are still being held hostage, but at least 41 are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli military.

“All! Now!”

A senior Israeli official involved in indirect negotiations for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip told AFP yesterday that his government knew “with certainty” that dozens of them were still alive.

“We can’t leave them there for too long, they will die,” he added.

In retaliation for the Hamas attack, the Israeli armed forces have launched large-scale, devastating operations that have so far killed at least 37,347 people, most of them civilians, according to health ministry data in the Palestinian enclave, where it rules the Palestinian Islamist movement.

Demonstrators called yesterday, once again, for a ceasefire to be declared between the Israeli armed forces and Hamas to allow the hostages to return home.

“All! Now!” they chanted, before observing a minute’s silence for the hostages who remain in the Palestinian enclave.

Many wore T-shirts with slogans such as “Stop the war” or “We are all equal”.

“After 75 years of this country’s existence and eight months of war, there is a huge gap, we are not equal. This has to change,” said Kfir Rofe, a 50-year-old protester. “We must all be equal, the Muslims, the Christians,” everyone who lives in Israel, he insisted.

Similar demonstrations have taken place repeatedly in recent weeks, with the participation of tens of thousands of people especially in Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest city.

© ANA-MPA SA. Intellectual rights and copyright are the sole property of the ANA-MPA and are allocated