Thousands of Israelis rallied in central Tel Aviv late on Monday, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of captives held in Gaza and protesting against his decision to sack Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, Anadolu has reported.
Protesters chants against Netanyahu reflected growing frustration over his leadership, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.
The protest was held on the eve of a Supreme Court hearing scheduled for Tuesday set to review opposition petitions challenging Bar’s dismissal. Tensions flared when a right-wing activist clashed with demonstrators, shouting anti-Bar slogans before police intervened.
Ilana Gritsevsky, a released Israeli hostage whose husband Matan Tsengaoker remains in Gaza, addressed the crowd. “Israel must propose an initiative to release all hostages at once,” she declared. “I’m here to scream at the government: Free them all now.” She accused Netanyahu’s administration of abandoning 59 captives for 549 days, noting that their lives are endangered by Israeli air strikes.
The rally followed the collapse of a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the US. Its first phase, effective from 19 January, ended on 1 March, with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas adhering to its terms. However, Netanyahu reneged on starting the second phase, resuming instead Israel’s military operations in Gaza on 18 March to appease his far-right coalition allies, Israel media reported. He is desperate to stay in power.
Retired Major General (Res) Noam Tibon, a former Northern Corps commander, warned that appointing a Shin Bet head loyal solely to Netanyahu poses “a grave danger to Israel’s security.” He accused the government — formed after Hamas’s 7 October cross-border incursion — of systematically undermining the occupation state’s security agencies.
“They’ve let [far-right National Security Minister] Itamar Ben-Gvir harm the police. They’re dismantling the army with a despicable draft-dodging law, and now they’re targeting Shin Bet,” said Tibon, referring to a controversial exemption from military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews. “Netanyahu isn’t fit to make security decisions.”
Israel estimates that 59 captives remain in Gaza, including 24 believed to be alive, while over 9,500 Palestinians are languishing in Israeli prisons, facing torture, starvation and medical neglect, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights reports.
More than 50,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s brutal, genocidal onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war against the Palestinians in the enclave.
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