Nationwide Demonstrations in Israel Call for End to War in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, ‘Together we will fight, and with God’s help, together we will complete the victory and end the war.’

Families of hostages and supporters hold photos of hostages during a demonstration calling for an hostages deal in Tel Aviv, Israel on Aug. 17, 2025. Amir Levy/Getty Images

Large-scale protests were held across Israel on Aug. 17 against the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with demonstrators calling for a deal to release the remaining hostages held by Hamas terrorists and end the war in Gaza.

Organizers claimed that hundreds of thousands participated. The Epoch Times has been unable to verify the numbers, but images and video footage show streets and squares packed with crowds of protesters in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and several other Israeli cities.

“Throughout the day, over one million people participated in hundreds of actions held across the country,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, representing relatives of those held hostage in Gaza, posted on X on the night of Aug. 17.

“The hostage families wish to tell the people of Israel: ‘Thank you! From here, we will only intensify our efforts. Stay with us until the last hostage is returned!’”

Protesters congregated outside politicians’ homes, at military headquarters, and on major highways, blocking lanes, lighting bonfires, and often refusing to move when directed by police.

“Officers have arrested multiple individuals engaging in unlawful behavior and will continue to act wherever public safety or freedom of movement is at risk,” the Israel Police said on X.

“The Israel Police views the right to lawful protest as a fundamental cornerstone of democracy. Actions that violate the law, such as burning tires, blocking highways, or endangering public safety, are not considered lawful protest.”

Netanyahu, speaking before a government meeting on Aug. 17, said: “Those who are calling for an end to the war today without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’s stance and pushing off the release of our hostages, but also ensuring that the horrors of the October 7 will recur again and again and that our sons and daughters will need to fight again and again in an endless war.

“Therefore, both to advance the release of our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel, we must complete the work and defeat Hamas.

“Together, we have had great achievements against our enemies on all fronts. Together, we will fight, and with God’s help, together we will complete the victory and end the war.”

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, murdered about 1,200 Israelis, and took 250 hostages back into Gaza.

Israel responded with an aerial bombing campaign followed by a land offensive. The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza says 61,900 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its fatality numbers.

A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas finally came into effect in January, leading to a partial Israeli troop withdrawal.

On Aug. 8, Netanyahu announced that Israel’s security cabinet had approved his plan to retake Gaza City, disarm Hamas, and return all the hostages. There are 50 hostages left in Gaza, 30 of whom are believed to be dead.

The five-point plan approved on Aug. 8 also included proposals to demilitarize the Gaza Strip, restore Israeli security control to the entire territory, and establish a civil administration “that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.”

In response to Netanyahu’s plan, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid posted on X, “This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading.”

People take part in a protest demanding the end of the war, the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Aug. 16, 2025. Mahmoud Illean/AP

Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is one of the hostages, said, “We live between a terrorist organization that holds our children and a government that refuses to release them for political reasons.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the Aug. 17 demonstrations “a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas’s hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future.”

It is not clear when Israel’s military will begin its new offensive into Gaza City, but it is expected to require the calling up of thousands of reservists.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.