On August 9, tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv to protest the plan to occupy Gaza city approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration on August 8.
Some of the strikers waved Israeli flags and carried banners with hostage images, while others carried signs expressing their anger at the government.
They even called on US President Donald Trump to take action to prevent Netanyahu from planning to escalate the war. Some protests took pictures of children in Gaza killed in Israeli airstrikes.
According to the organizers, the protest on the evening of August 9 (local time) had about 100,000 participants. Most of the participants opposed Netanyahu's decision because they were concerned that the lives of the hostages were at stake.
"This is not just a military decision. It could be a death sentence for our most beloved people," said Lishay Miran Lavi, wife of hostage Omri Miran, at the protest.
Meanwhile, also at the protest, Rami Dar - a 69-year-old pensioner living in the suburbs of Tel Aviv - said that the Israeli government "is doing things that go against the interests of the country".
Public opinion polls show that the majority of Israelis support an immediate end to the war to ensure the release of the remaining 50 hostages held by militants in Gaza. Israeli officials believe that about 20 hostages are still alive.
Not stopping there, the Israeli government also faced criticism from the international community, including some of its closest European allies, over the military's announcement of expanding the war.
Notably, most of the hostages who have been released so far are the results of diplomatic negotiations. However, ceasefire talks, which could have helped release more hostages, collapsed in July.
About 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, were killed and 251 were taken hostage in Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. This is also the reason for the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 61,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in Israeli attacks since the war began. On August 9 alone, at least 39 people were killed by shelling from the Israeli army.
