Anger has erupted in Israel over the killing of six prisoners in Gaza, after the Israeli military recovered their bodies on Sunday, nearly 11 months after they were held by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups during the October 7 attacks.
The military said the captives were killed shortly before their bodies were recovered. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas for the hostages’ deaths, saying “whoever kills hostages does not want a deal.”
But about 300,000 people took to the streets on Sunday evening to protest against Netanyahu’s government, which they accuse of failing to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
The six prisoners were killed in Israeli airstrikes, said senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq. Hamas has offered to release the prisoners in exchange for an end to the devastating Israeli war that has killed more than 40,700 Palestinians in Gaza, an Israeli withdrawal from the territory, and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including prominent members of Palestinian factions.
Yesterday, demonstrators chanted slogans against Netanyahu’s government, while clashes broke out between them and the police.
Israel’s main labor union called a strike on Monday, bringing the country’s economy to a halt for several hours before a labor court ordered strikers to return to work.
The general strike — the first nationwide call to stop work since October 7 — represents the latest challenge to Netanyahu’s grip on power in Israel, but analysts say the full impact of the protests and strikes will only be known in the coming days.
“It’s too early to know what this means for the government,” Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and government adviser, told Tel Aviv Tribune. “The challenge here is continuity. Will these demonstrations continue? Or will they be a one-off hit that Netanyahu doesn’t care about – allowing people to vent their frustration and anger – or will this be a recurring event?”
Israel at the boiling point
The war on Gaza has been raging since Hamas and other Palestinian factions launched an operation on October 7, during which 1,139 people were killed in Israel and about 240 others were captured.
Israel’s devastating war on Gaza has killed nearly 41,000 people and injured more than 94,000. The International Court of Justice is considering allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor has requested arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Galant, along with two Hamas leaders.
After a brief pause and prisoner exchange in November, much of Israeli society demanded that Netanyahu negotiate a ceasefire to release the remaining 100 or so prisoners, most of whom are believed to still be alive.
A deal appeared close in late May, but Netanyahu added a series of new, non-negotiable conditions that largely derailed the talks, according to Israeli negotiators and analysts. These included keeping Israeli forces in the Philadelphi Corridor, on the border with Egypt, and the Netzarim Corridor, which separates northern and southern Gaza.
Since then, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and Israel has intensified its operations in the West Bank and Lebanon.
“The fronts[in the West Bank and Lebanon]are real, but Netanyahu has exacerbated them,” Pinkas says. “He is constantly flirting with escalation. He needs war to continue.”
Meanwhile, Israel has focused its attempts to free prisoners through military operations rather than negotiations. In early June, it launched an operation that rescued four prisoners but killed more than 200 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials. But the strategy has faced growing criticism within Israel.
The recent recovery of the six bodies has only increased opposition to Netanyahu’s approach. “The government and the prime minister are now on the defensive,” Uri Goldberg, an expert on Israeli politics, told Tel Aviv Tribune. “It’s about momentum now.”
“Netanyahu’s interests are the country’s interests”
This is not the first time Netanyahu has been the focal point of widespread protests in Israel. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in 2023 to protest his plans to overhaul the country’s judicial system, in what critics said were attempts to evade corruption charges from a previous premiership.
Protests against Netanyahu’s government continued until the summer of 2024, with demonstrators demanding a ceasefire and the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza.
“(Netanyahu) has absolutely no interest in reaching a hostage deal or a ceasefire, that’s clear,” Pinkas said. “Those who were shocked and angry about what happened shouldn’t be surprised because that’s exactly what the defense minister (Galant) warned us about. His reluctance alone to enter into a deal is what made all this happen.”
In July, a poll showed that 72 percent of Israelis felt Netanyahu should resign over his failure to prevent the Hamas-led operation on October 7. However, Netanyahu’s polls have slowly climbed, and as of last week he still held a strong lead over his main rival, Benny Gantz. Netanyahu also retains the support of the far right, whose ministers include National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
“He not only formed this coalition with them, but he gave them key positions, encouraged them, empowered them, and never allowed them to be held accountable when they went astray,” Pinkas said. “So he’s not a hostage, he’s part of the robbery.”
While many pressed Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire, Ben-Gvir responded to the news of the six prisoners’ deaths with calls for settlement building in Gaza. “Those who blame the Israeli government are repeating Hamas propaganda,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “In Gaza, too, the price for killing the kidnapped must be the occupation of more land and the establishment of a Jewish settlement in Gaza.”
However, analysts believe that appeasing the far right has not come without a cost, and Netanyahu is now playing for his political survival. “He is not only a completely corrupt dictator who acts out of personal interest, but he believes that his personal interests are the interests of the country and can only be saved if he is in power,” Goldberg said.
Is it time for Netanyahu to go?
So far, few politicians have taken significant steps against Netanyahu. Analysts like Goldberg say this is because a coherent political alternative to Israel’s war on Gaza has yet to emerge.
But in recent days, Netanyahu’s main rivals have begun to back down. Defense Minister Galant said Netanyahu’s prioritization of “the Philadelphi corridor over the lives of the hostages is a moral disgrace.”
For his part, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid threw his weight behind the workers’ strikes on Monday.
With Netanyahu backed into a corner once again, analysts believe his next move will be decisive. “It’s fair to assume that he will do the only thing he’s ever done: stick to his guns,” researcher and writer Elia Ayoub told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“I don’t know if the internal pressure will be enough because he already considers himself a political dead man if he loses. He has everything to lose if he surrenders,” he added.
