2026-01-24 21:40:00
Thousands of protesters gathered throughout the country Saturday night to demonstrate against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, as well as for the return of the remains of the final hostage, Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili.
In Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, the banners, posters and flags held by the hundreds-strong crowd appeared to focus on a variety of issues, ranging from the government’s attempts to weaken the High Court of Justice, the rampant crime wave plaguing Israel’s Arab society, to the plight of missing Ethiopian Israeli child Haymanut Kasau.
During the Tel Aviv protest, a number of right-wing counter protesters confronted the crowd, with one shoving an apparently elderly man to the ground, the Haaretz daily cited witnesses as saying.
According to the newspaper, police detained one person as protesters blocked a road.
In Jerusalem, protesters gathered near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, in a demonstration similarly diverse in motivation and cause to the one in Tel Aviv.
Yanal Jabarin, an activist with the coexistence organization Abraham Initiatives, told the crowd in Jerusalem about the crime wave that has been raging in Israel’s Arab communities for the past several years: “Crime in Arab society is the result of years of neglect, discrimination, and deliberate policies by governments that have chosen to turn a blind eye.”
“Our struggle is for the whole country,” he said, according to Haaretz. “When there are citizens who live in fear, without personal security, without enforcement, and without justice, the entire democracy is in danger.”
In Haifa, Israel Waismel-Manor, a professor at Haifa University, told the demonstration: “Netanyahu only knows how to sow two things — hatred and fear.”
“This country was built not on these two, but on a dream,” he said.
גם בקור, יוצאים עם האמת על סיפור הבגידה בלשכת ראש הממשלה.
לא ניתן להסתיר את האמת!
באר שבע, חיפה (אלון בנקי), ירושלים (אורנה קופרמן) כיכר הבימה תל אביב (מרסלו שניידמן). pic.twitter.com/TVXPi5J5KU— מהפך ישראלי (@MahapachIsraeli) January 24, 2026
Meanwhile, in southern Israel’s Meitar, Gvili’s hometown, a crowd gathered to hear from former hostages and their relatives, as the Gvili family keeps up its efforts to secure the return of his body from Gaza, more than three months since the start of a ceasefire deal requiring Hamas to free all the captives.
Speakers at the rally included Gvili’s mother, Talik, former hostage Eitan Horn, and Dani Miran, the father of released hostage Omri Miran.
At the rally, Miran called on US President Donald Trump not to move to phase two of the ceasefire in Gaza without the return of Gvili’s body: “I do not accept moving to phase two without Ran’s return.”
“I propose that we hold a huge demonstration in front of the US embassy building next week,” he added, saying that the hostages’ families’ struggle will not end until Gvili’s body is returned.
״אנחנו רוצים לשלוח מסר לוויטקוף, קושניר וטראמפ: עסקאות צריך לסיים.״
טליק ואיציק, הוריו של רן גואילי, פנו לנציגי הממשל האמריקאי מעל הבמה בעצרת במיתר הערב:
״לא נעשו כל המאמצים להחזיר את רני הביתה. הפחד שמעבר רפיח יפתח, וימשיך השלב השני בלי שרני חוזר הביתה״
אסור להמשיך להתקדם… pic.twitter.com/enNDLJ9WXh
— מטה המשפחות להחזרת החטופים והנעדרים (@BringThemHome23) January 24, 2026
Talik Gvili, Ran’s mother, also spoke, addressing Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, saying: “Deals need to be fulfilled.”
“Not all efforts have been made to bring Rani home. There is a fear that the Rafah crossing will open, but we can not continue to the second phase without Rani returning home,” she said, referring to the planned reopening of the border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt next week, despite Israeli objections.
Before the rally, Gvili’s family published a statement expressing concern that pressure was being directed at Israel to move forward with the ceasefire plan, rather than on Hamas to return the hostage’s body.
“President Trump himself said this week in Davos that Hamas knows where our son is. We wonder why the pressure is being directed at the wrong place. The pressure should not be on the Israeli government to continue to fulfill its part of the agreement while Hamas is deceiving the entire world and refusing to return the last kidnapped person, in accordance with the agreement it signed,” the family said.
The Gvili family called on Netanyahu to tell the US envoys that efforts should be made to return their son if they want to move forward with regional peace and the reconstruction of Gaza.
