Large protests held across Israel as national strike for hostages gets underway – The Times of Israel
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Large protests held across Israel as national strike for hostages gets underway
The strike was organized by the October Council, which represents some of the family members of the hostages or bereaved relatives of those killed in the fighting. The action began at 6:29 a.m. — the exact time of day that the Hamas attack erupted on October 7, 2023. Nearly one million people are expected to pass through Hostages Square in Tel Aviv throughout the day, and for tens of thousands to join activities at hundreds of other sites across Israel. Several convoys of tractors are also expected to make their way along Route 232, the vital southern road-turned-killing field where Hamas terrorists gunned down civilians trying to flee the attack. The local Sha’ar HaNegev and Eshkol regional councils will be on strike all of Sunday, and groups in the border town of Sderot and nearby Ofakim will hold their own demonstrations as well. Some local councils have also organized their own events in solidarity with the hostages, including the Haifa Municipality, which, together with the families of hostages, will hold a rally.
The strike was organized by the October Council, which represents some of the family members of the hostages or bereaved relatives of those killed in the fighting that erupted with the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, as well as the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
The forum said on Saturday night that it was preparing for nearly one million people to pass through Hostages Square in Tel Aviv throughout the day, and for tens of thousands to join activities at hundreds of other sites across Israel.
The action began at 6:29 a.m. — the exact time of day that the Hamas attack erupted on October 7, 2023 — with a series of protests at junctions and intersections across the country.
Protesters will be standing at the intersections handing out yellow ribbons, the symbol that represents the hostages, to passersby, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
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The forum published a map highlighting the locations at which early-morning protests were planned.
The main events of the day got underway at 7 a.m., when the October Council will deliver a statement to the press from Sarona Market in Tel Aviv, across the street from the Kirya military headquarters.
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Then, at 9 a.m., a special photography exhibition will open at Hostages Square for the public to view throughout the day, until 6 p.m.
The main stage at Hostages Square will also feature speeches from relatives of the hostages at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m., the forum said.
Solidarity marches representing specific industries will be held in Tel Aviv throughout the day, including a doctors’ march at 9 a.m., and a students’ march at 5 p.m.
The students’ march will be followed by a statement to the press from senior academics.
Various businesses and organizations participating in the strike will have representatives present at vigils in Hostages Square throughout the day, rotating on an hourly basis, the forum said.
Then at 6 p.m., a prayer service will be held at Hostages Square before protesters march with hostages’ families from Tel Aviv–Savidor Center railway station to Hostages Square for a main rally at 8 p.m.
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Convoys of cars will set out from across Israel at 4 p.m. to converge in Tel Aviv for the evening rally.
A host of events and protests have been planned for areas outside of Tel Aviv as well, including a protest convoy in the Western Galilee, in northern Israel, and a protest outside the Mall Hayam shopping mall in Eilat, all the way in the south of Israel.
Some local councils have also organized their own events in solidarity with the families of the hostages, including the Haifa Municipality, which, together with the families of hostages, will hold a rally at 10 a.m.
Meanwhile, a number of events were also planned in the communities close to the Gaza border that bore the brunt of Hamas’s deadly invasion.
Several convoys of tractors are expected to make their way along Route 232, the vital southern road-turned-killing field where, on October 7, Hamas terrorists gunned down civilians trying to flee the attack.
The local Sha’ar HaNegev and Eshkol regional councils will be on strike all of Sunday, and groups in the border town of Sderot and nearby Ofakim will hold their own demonstrations as well.
In the days leading up to the strike, hundreds of local authorities, businesses, universities, tech companies and other organizations announced that they would join the strike or allow employees to join if they wished to.
Although the Histadrut, Israel’s main labor union, announced that it would not join the strike, it said it would nevertheless support workers planning to participate in protest rallies on Sunday.
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The decision by the labor union not to participate followed a meeting between Histadrut chair Arnon Bar-David, senior representatives of the business sector, and representatives of the families of hostages organizing the strike.
He explained to the families that he was concerned that the involvement of the powerful union would divert public discourse around the return of the hostages into politics.
“If I knew that a strike — not just for one day but longer — would end the matter, stop the war and bring back the hostages, I would go for it with full force,” Bar-David said. “Unfortunately, and although my heart is bursting with anger, it has no practical outcome.”
Unions and organizations that announced plans to back the strike or support employees who wished to protest included the Forum of Cultural and Art Institutions, the Israel Airports Authority employees union, and the Israel Bar Association.
An anti-government protest group representing dozens of the country’s largest tech companies, collectively employing tens of thousands of workers, also announced last week that it would join the strike. Among the tech companies are Wix, Fiverr, Meta, Papaya Global, HoneyBook, Natural Intelligence, and Fireblocks. The group also includes venture capital funds such as Qumra Capital, Pitango, Disruptive, and NFX.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 60,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Sharon Wrobel contributed to this report.
At least 25 arrested as thousands protest, block roads in nationwide strike for hostages
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa says the battle to unify his country after years of civil war “should not be with blood,” rejecting any partition and accusing Israel of meddling in the south. His remarks come as hundreds demonstrated in south Syria’s Sweida province on Saturday, denouncing sectarian violence last month that drew in Israeli airstrikes. At the protest, some demonstrators waved the Israeli flag and called for self-determination for the region. A week of bloodshed in Sweida began on July 13 with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin, but rapidly escalated, drawing in government forces.
His remarks come as hundreds demonstrated in south Syria’s Sweida province on Saturday, denouncing sectarian violence last month that drew in Israeli airstrikes and calling for the right to self-determination for the Druze-majority province.
At the protest, some demonstrators waved the Israeli flag and called for self-determination for the region.
Sharaa’s remarks are released today by Syrian state TV.
“We still have another battle ahead of us to unify Syria, and it should not be with blood and military force… it should be through some kind of understanding because Syria is tired of war,” Sharaa said during a dialogue session involving notables from the northwest province of Idlib and other senior officials.
“I do not see Syria as at risk of division. Some people desire a process of dividing Syria and trying to establish cantons… this matter is impossible,” he said according to a recording of the meeting, distributed overnight by state media.
“Some parties seek to gain power through regional power, Israel or others. This is also extremely difficult and cannot be implemented,” he said.
Protesters in #Sweida , southern Syria, raise the Druze flag and the Israeli flag, chanting, “The people want to enter Israel.” pic.twitter.com/hHIbTzIKLr — Ibrahim Hamidi ابراهيم حميدي (@ibrahimhamidi) August 16, 2025
A week of bloodshed in Sweida began on July 13 with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin, but rapidly escalated, drawing in government forces, with Israel also carrying out strikes.
Syrian authorities have said their forces intervened to stop the clashes, but witnesses, Druze factions and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have accused them of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses against the Druze, including summary executions.
Sharaa said that Sweida “witnessed many violations from all sides… some members of the security forces and army in Syria also carried out some violations.”
The state is required “to hold all perpetrators of violations to account,” whatever their affiliation, he added.
“Israel is intervening directly in Sweida, seeking to implement policies aimed at weakening the state in general or finding excuses to interfere in ongoing policies in the southern region,” Sharaa said.
Israel, which has its own Druze community, has said it has acted to defend the minority group as well as enforce its demands for the demilitarization of southern Syria.
Protests held across Israel
Demonstrators call for an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to release hostages still held by militants. The protests come more than a week after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to capture Gaza City. The war was triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, during which 251 were taken hostage. Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decried “a perverse and harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas” Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,897 Palestinians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The protests come more than a week after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to capture Gaza City, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory.
The war was triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, during which 251 were taken hostage.
Forty-nine captives remain in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
A huge Israeli flag covered with portraits of the remaining captives was unfurled in Tel Aviv’s so-called Hostage Square – which has long been a focal point for protests throughout the war.
Demonstrators also blocked several roads in the city, including the highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where demonstrators set tires on fire and caused traffic jams, according to local media footage.
Protest organisers and the main campaign group representing the families of hostages also called for a general strike on Sunday.
“I think it’s time to end the war. It’s time to release all of the hostages. And it’s time to help Israel recover and move towards a more stable Middle East,” said Doron Wilfand, a 54-year-old tour guide, at a rally in Jerusalem.
However, some government members who oppose any deal with Hamas slammed the demonstrations.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decried “a perverse and harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas”.
He argued that public pressure to secure a deal effectively “buries the hostages in tunnels and seeks to push the State of Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardise its security and future”.
APTFV footage showed protesters at a rally in Beeri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was one of the hardest-hit communities in the Hamas attack, and Israeli media reported protests in numerous locations across the country.
Israeli plans to expand the war into Gaza City and nearby refugee camps have sparked an international outcry as well as domestic opposition.
UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in.
According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, Israeli troops shot dead at least 13 Palestinians on Saturday as they were waiting to collect food aid near distribution sites.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,897 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza which the United Nations considers reliable.
Aug. 9: Father of ex-hostage says he’d planned to ‘burn the country’ to get his daughter back
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says he no longer believes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to do what it takes to win the war in Gaza. He calls the security cabinet’s recent approval of a plan to conquer Gaza City a half-measure. While the public message is unusually strongly worded, he doesn’t outright threaten to quit the government, something he has said several times in the past he would do if he felt the war wasn’t going in his preferred direction. He says it is “not too late” to change his mind, convene the cabinet and announce that “there will be no more partial deals”
However, while the public message is unusually strongly worded, Smotrich doesn’t outright threaten to quit the government, something he has long been reportedly considering and which he has said several times in the past he would do if he felt the war wasn’t going in his preferred direction.
In a video message, Smotrich says he has “worked intensively” with Netanyahu in recent weeks to formulate a new plan for “victory in Gaza,” which would consist of a combination of military and political moves intended to destroy Hamas’s military and civil capabilities and force it to free the hostages. But while it initially appeared that Netanyahu supported this plan, “unfortunately, he made a U-turn.”
Instead, together with his cabinet, Netanyahu “succumbed to weakness, let emotion win over reason and decided to do more of the same again” and launch a military maneuver aimed not at complete victory, but rather only at pressuring Hamas to agree to a “partial hostage deal,” Smotrich alleges, adding that such an approach gives the terrorist group an out, with the opportunity to “recover and rearm.”
Arguing that this “is not how you win a war,” Smotrich insists that “when faced with a push for a deal, the IDF will always move tepidly and work at half-speed,” adding that risking the troops’ lives as well as international opprobrium in pursuit of such a strategy is an “immoral and illogical folly.”
While he has previously supported the prime minister for the sake of unity even when they disagreed on certain moves, he says, “Unfortunately, for the first time since the war began, I feel that I simply cannot stand behind this decision and support it. My conscience does not allow it.”
While he was previously able to set aside his reservations because he believed that “we were striving for a decisive victory,” Smotrich says that he has “lost faith that the prime minister can and wants to lead the IDF to a decisive victory.”
Appealing directly to Netanyahu, Smotrich says it is “not too late” to change his mind, convene the cabinet and announce that “there will be no more partial deals” and that Israel is now aiming at a complete victory in which Hamas either surrenders and releases all the hostages all at once, or is completely defeated and destroyed.
This approach, he adds, would include the “annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip and opening its gates to voluntary migration.”
Asked if Smotrich’s statement constitutes a threat to bolt the coalition and what his Religious Zionism party will do if Netanyahu does not alter his approach, a spokesman for the minister does not immediately respond.
Aug. 8: Hostage David Cunio’s wife says she saw clip of him looking ‘desperate and hungry’ in captivity
A new research paper finds that aid diversion is a recurring problem in war zones across the world. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee demands “accountability” for the United Nations and its “massive funding,” which he declares is “either incompetent or corrupt” The paper examines records and documents kept by humanitarian groups across eight different prolonged conflicts. It concludes that the current prevailing method of aid distribution is no longer effective, and that a new model “which seeks to truly alleviate human suffering” must be introduced, with strong anti-diversion safeguards in place. The authors chose to focus their research on the Middle East and Africa, and did not examine past or present wars in other areas of the world, such as the ongoing Ukraine or any other conflicts in Europe in the late 20th and early 21 century.
The paper, titled “Aiding Who? Humanitarian Aid and the Continuation of War by Other Means,” by Netta Barak Corren and Jonathan Boxman, was published on August 5 on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN).
Barak Corren is the Haim H. Cohn Chair in Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Law, and Boxman is a health sciences and quantitative science independent researcher.
The paper examines records and documents kept by humanitarian groups across eight different prolonged conflicts — Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia and the Gaza Strip — to examine the impact of the “humanity-first” aid model, which the authors argue leads to aid diversion not as a “deviation from normative humanitarian practices,” but as an issue “deeply embedded” in all stages of the process.
The humanitarian groups examined by the authors include UNRWA, USAID and Human Rights Watch, among others.
The report highlights what it says are issues in the aid distribution practices across all eight conflict zones.
There needs to be accountability for the UN & its massive funding that is either incompetent or corrupt. pic.twitter.com/u7KK8IpJyS — Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 8, 2025
In Somalia, it says the World Food Programme entrusted aid transport, storage and security to three clans, which use the proceeds from their tenders to fund armed militias and which have previously been estimated to divert some 30% of aid away from its intended recipients.
In Afghanistan, the authors write that the Taliban imposes a 10-15% tax rate on humanitarian groups and also regularly physically diverts aid through a variety of tactics, including by securing jobs for its own people within various aid groups.
The researchers find that during the 2011-2024 Syrian civil war, aid would regularly be diverted to then-president Bashar al-Assad’s loyalist strongholds and withheld from rebel-controlled areas, as the aid groups allowed the Syrian regime to determine which areas were safe to deliver to and which were not. The paper reports on similar practices, which it describes as “denial of aid through bureaucratization” during the ongoing Sudanese civil war.
Finally, in the Gaza Strip, the paper’s authors say that in all its years of operations, from 1949 until now, UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has never acknowledged any aid diversion in Gaza, nor any preventative methods to prevent aid diversion.
However, the paper says there is “an abundance of evidence” pointing to frequent aid diversion.
It cites an old internal Hamas document calling to appropriate 25% of all aid delivered to the Strip for redistribution and sale, as well as a failure to exempt humanitarian aid from a 20% tax that, as of 2016, was imposed on all goods entering the Gaza Strip.
The authors point to other instances, including the participation of some UNRWA employees in the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault in southern Israel, as proof that the agency “has been intertwined with Hamas to a degree that allowed Hamas to use its resources as it pleases.”
The paper concludes that the current prevailing method of aid distribution is no longer effective, and that, as such, a new model “which seeks to truly alleviate human suffering” must be introduced, with strong anti-diversion safeguards in place.
Notably, the authors chose to focus their research on the Middle East and Africa, and did not examine past or present wars in other areas of the world, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine or any other conflicts in Europe in the late 20th and early 21st century.