The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that the Israeli police dispersed a crowd of demonstrators from a major Tel Aviv thoroughfare, Kaplan Street, after they attempted to block it, and that the police used water cannons on the crowd. At least 21 persons were arrested.

It is thought to be the biggest set of demonstrations since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv to demand that the extremist government of Binyamin Netanyahu strike a deal to exchange Palestinians held prisoner in Israel (many of them held without charge or trial) for hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Fascist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich appears to have spoken for the government last week when he said that rescuing the over 100 hostages “is not the most important thing.”

The police also pushed back a crowd attempting to block the Ayalon Lanes intercity freeway at Tel Aviv.

Elsewhere in the city, thousands gathered, among them families with a member held hostage in Gaza. They raised placards demanding an exchange of prisoners deal and the release of Israeli hostages.

At the residence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the Tzahala neighborhood of Tel Aviv, hundreds came out to demand immediate elections. Netanyahu is widely hated in Israel, and only 17% in polls say they would vote for his Likud Party again.

Numerous other towns and cities also witnessed demonstrations.

A similar small rally for new elections was held in Beersheba.

In Jerusalem, about a thousand people participated in a protest march, also demanding a hostage deal, as well as new elections. They proceeded from the prime minister’s residence to Paris Square.

Hundreds also protested at Caesarea, closing the main drag and edging toward a residence in the city owned by Netanyahu. Police detained a woman for investigation.

Haaretz adds that the protesters in Tel Aviv were carrying torches and marching toward the Defense Headquarters when the water cannon was unleashed on them. The center-left newspaper quotes a protest leader as saying, “The police created this mess. The number of protesters was not greater than in previous weeks. When they activated the water cannon … they turned it into a significant event that drew people.”

Haaretz also says that of the 400 demonstrators in Beersheba, 100 were family members of two Israelis of Palestinian heritage (presumably Druze) who were being held in Gaza. It reports, “Shaban al-Sayed, the father of Hisham al-Sayed, who has been held by Hamas since 2015, and Ali Alziadna, the brother of Yosef Alziadna, who is currently being held hostage by Hamas, and uncle of released hostage Bilal Alziadna, spoke at the protest.”

Haaretz also quotes a family member of a hostage at a small demonstration in Haifa as saying that the Netanyahu government and its “deranged messianic envoys” are making enemies of the families of the hostages.

Huge weekly demonstrations against the Netanyahu government had roiled Israel before the Hamas attack.

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