Thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday evening to demand a deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza for more than 450 days, hours after the Palestinian terror group Hamas released a propaganda video showing captive soldier Liri Albag alive.
The rallies took place as an Israeli delegation was in Qatar for negotiations aimed at resolving long-standing differences, following months of unsuccessful efforts to reach a deal with Hamas – a deal that would achieve the release of hostages held in Gaza since the pogrom perpetrated by the latter on October 7, 2023.
At least five people were arrested in Tel Aviv during anti-government protests aimed at pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to reach a “truce for hostage release” deal.
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pounds, tatzpitani – or surveillance soldier – stationed at the Nahal Oz military post, had been kidnapped with six other people. She is one of 96 hostages believed to remain in captivity in Gaza – including the bodies of at least 34 people whose deaths have been confirmed by the Israeli military.
The three-and-a-half minute video is undated, but Liri says she has been detained for more than 450 days, suggesting it was filmed recently. Saturday marked the 456th day of the hostage situation.
Relatives of the hostages urged people to take to the streets en masse during weekly Saturday evening protests, following the release of the video, which the Albag family asked Israeli media not to broadcast.
Protesters calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza, in front of the Defense Ministry headquarters, in Tel Aviv, January 4, 2025. (Credit: Jack Guez/AFP)
The Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing Persons said in a statement that Liri’s video was “harsh and undeniable proof of the urgent need to bring all the hostages home.”
“Every day spent in Hamas’ Gaza hellhole poses an immediate risk of death to living hostages and jeopardizes the possibility of recovering fallen hostages for proper burial,” the forum said.
In Tel Aviv, speakers addressing a crowd of some 1,500 anti-government demonstrators gathered near the headquarters of the Kirya army called on US President-elect Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza and reach an agreement.
“Stop weaponizing the revenge campaign in Gaza,” Shahar Mor, nephew of slain hostage Avraham Munder, said in English, as US sources confirmed outgoing US President Joe Biden was seeking the deal of Congress for a new arms deal with Israel worth $8 billion.
Hostage Liri Albag, in a sequence taken from a video published by Hamas on January 4, 2025. (Credit: Forum of Families of Hostages and Disappeared)
“We need to get our hostages back. Without them, we will perish,” Mor said.
“The previous administration failed miserably. You can do better. »
Omri Lifshitz, son of captivity survivor Yocheved Lifshitz and hostage Oded Lifshitz, also spoke to Trump in English, asking him to “end this fucking war now.”
Below, an anti-government group handed out red hats emblazoned with those same words in large white letters, mimicking Trump’s iconic “Make America Great Again” hats.
Trump has repeatedly threatened harsh action if the hostages remain in captivity after he takes office on January 20, but talks toward a deal have remained stalled for a variety of reasons, including because the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas demands that any agreement include an end to the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Protesters then brandished flaming torches and lit fires on the road, clashing with police who were trying to clear the way.
Police on horseback were seen charging the crowd and footage showed officers pushing back protesters who tried to stop them from carrying people off the road. A police officer also snatched a megaphone from a protester’s hand and threw it into the ashes of a fire the protesters had started.
Police said five people were arrested for disturbing the peace after “officers became involved in confrontations, including shoving and attempting to prevent” them from deploying.
Israeli police extract a protester during a rally calling for the release of hostages, in front of the Defense Ministry headquarters, in Tel Aviv, January 4, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)
No arrests have been made during the weekly protests since the beginning of December, when Hamas released a video of hostage Matan Zangauker.
In Jerusalem, four protesters were arrested by police outside Netanyahu’s residence, the Walla news site reported.
Earlier addressing protesters in Tel Aviv, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Noam Tibon said the government had less courage than a “young soldier named Liri,” referring to 19-year-old Liri Albag.
Family members of Hamas hostage Liri Albag demonstrate after the terrorist group released a video showing signs of life on Liri Albag, in Tel Aviv, January 4, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)
He also denounced the impending law to exempt thousands of ultra-Orthodox men from military service. “It’s not just about sharing the burden [surnom du service militaire en Israël]nor of an equality of blood, but of a real operational necessity. »
Recalling his time in captivity, Almog Meïr Jan told the crowd at a rally in Hostage Square that he was “bound and broken, physically and mentally.”
Meir Jan said he would “never forget the hand that saved my life” in June, when Israeli security forces rescued him and three other hostages in Gaza. Military officials have warned that such rescues are unlikely to be a viable option for freeing the dozens of hostages still in captivity.
“The hand extended to the hostages and their families is an agreement that must be signed,” Meïr Jan said.
“A deal to save their lives, a deal to save all of our lives. »
In Jerusalem, hundreds of protesters demanding a deal with the hostages marched to Netanyahu’s home, carrying a banner reading: “They are all humanitarians,” referring to the hostages who would be freed in the first phase. of a possible agreement.
Talks for a release deal focused on a first phase that would see “humanitarian” cases released, but the families demanded that all hostages be released at once.
At a demonstration near Netanyahu’s official residence in the capital, demonstrators wearing minimal clothing blocked King George Street, their skin smeared with words in Hebrew and Arabic that read: ” They are freezing to death in Gaza” and other similar messages.
Five protesters sit in the middle of King George Street in Jerusalem during a march for a hostage deal, January 4, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Demonstrators in Jerusalem also paid tribute to Staff Sergeant Yuval Shoham, who was killed last Sunday in the Gaza Strip. This soldier was the son of Ephraim Shoham, a prominent anti-government activist in Jerusalem.
From the stage outside Netanyahu’s home, organizers screened a video of Shoham giving his son’s eulogy, a eulogy he had delivered last week – in which he called on the government to conclude a agreement with Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
“I appeal to the Prime Minister – it is no secret that we do not agree, but here, at the fresh grave of my son, I ask you, on his behalf and on behalf of so many others, to make a deal: make a deal,” Ephraim said at the funeral.
Saturday’s protests and the release of Hamas’ latest propaganda video coincided with continued hostage negotiations in Doha, where Qatari mediators met with a mid-level Israeli negotiating team and representatives of the Palestinian terror group to parallel discussions aimed at overcoming lingering differences between the warring parties.
Protesters demanding a hostage deal march toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, January 4, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Negotiations had been at a standstill for about a week and a half, after the prime minister recalled the Israeli negotiating team from Qatar for internal deliberations on December 25. Since then, optimism that a deal could be reached before Trump’s inauguration has faded.
After negotiations ended on Friday, a senior Israeli official told Axios that Israel and Hamas were deadlocked on almost all points and that talks were therefore moving very slowly. Nonetheless, he said it would be clear in a week whether or not a deal could be reached.
The war in Gaza broke out when some 6,000 Gazans, including 3,800 Hamas-led terrorists, stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The gunmen killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and had kidnapped 251 hostages of all ages, committing numerous atrocities and perpetrating sexual violence on a large scale. Israel says it killed 18,000 terrorists in combat, and a thousand more terrorists inside the country as of October 7, 2023.
At the end of November 2023, Hamas released 105 civilians during a week-long truce. Four hostages had previously been released. Eight living hostages were rescued by soldiers and the remains of 38 hostages were recovered, including those of three Israelis who were accidentally killed by the IDF.
Protesters calling for action to secure the release of hostages in Gaza, in front of the Defense Ministry headquarters, in Tel Aviv, January 4, 2025. (Credit: Jack Guez/AFP)
The Palestinian terrorist group also holds two Israeli civilians who entered the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
