Rallies call for hostage deal as talks deadlock over parameters of IDF redeployment

Anti-government protests and hostage rallies were held in cities across Israel on Saturday night, amid reports that the ceasefire talks have stalled, with Israel blaming Hamas’s intransigence for their lack of progress.

An Israeli official said Saturday evening that Jerusalem accepted a Qatari proposal for a 60-day ceasefire-hostage release deal, but Hamas rejected it, saying that the terror group is “refusing to compromise.”

“Israel has shown a willingness to be flexible in negotiations, while Hamas remains stubborn, taking positions that do not allow the mediators to advance an agreement,” the official said.

The key issue in the negotiations remains the extent and locations of the military’s withdrawal from Gaza, with Hamas reportedly rejecting the latest maps that Israel presented.

The rejected maps had Israel keeping control of roughly one-third of Gaza’s territory, including a three-kilometer (1.86-mile) buffer zone in Rafah to create a controversial “humanitarian city” to which Gaza’s population will be herded, checked for weapons and be barred from leaving as Israel will seek to encourage their emigration outside of the Strip.

Citing an unnamed foreign official with knowledge of the details, Channel 12 news reported that Israel on Monday will present new maps on the IDF’s redeployment, specifically along the Morag Corridor and perimeter around Gaza.

The outlet earlier reported that Hamas agreed to expand the buffer zone from 700 meters to one kilometer. However, Israel is still demanding that it be expanded to as much as two kilometers.

The deal, if agreed upon, would see the release of 10 living and 18 dead hostages during a 60-day pause in fighting, during which the two sides would discuss an agreement to end the conflict.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are still holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF.

According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 57,000 people have been killed in the Strip since the war there began on October 7, 2023. The Hamas-provided death toll cannot be independently verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

‘Window of opportunity’

Amid the reports of stalled talks, thousands of anti-government protesters gathered in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square and cities and junctions across the country for the weekly demonstrations calling on the government to reach a deal to end the war and return all the hostages.

Before the rallies, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a statement decrying the reported lack of progress, saying that “Missing the current momentum would be a serious failure.”

“Every day the war continues is an achievement for Hamas and a serious risk for our hostages and soldiers,” the statement read.

The families referred to a Channel 12 poll showing that 74 percent of Israelis, including 60% of people who voted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, back an agreement with Hamas that would release all the hostages at once in exchange for an end to the Gaza war.

“All the polls and data show that an absolute majority of the nation of Israel wants an end to the war in Gaza and the return of hostages, and agrees that it is in Israel’s interest, including a decisive majority among coalition voters,” the statement said.

At the main rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, ex-captive Eli Sharabi called on US President Donald Trump to seize the ‘window of opportunity’ to free the hostages, speaking to some 2,000 demonstrators.

Sharabi, who lost his brother, wife and daughters in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, called on Trump to seize the “window of opportunity” to bring back the remaining 50 hostages, including the remains of Sharabi’s brother Yossi.

“The window of opportunity to bring home all 50 hostages — living and dead — is open now and it won’t be for long,” he said.

“President Trump, being in those tunnels is hell. Thank you for bringing me — and so many others — back home,” said Sharabi. “We need your help now to bring back my brother Yossi, and 49 other hostages. Your vision for a new Middle East is possible only when all hostages are back home.”

In Hebrew, Sharabi called on Israeli decision-makers to show humility and end the war in Gaza to bring back the hostages.

“You were elected to serve this nation with humility,” he said. “Arrogance is what brought the disaster upon us, and we must not return to that pattern of behavior.”

“We can’t afford silence, we have to end this fighting, for our brothers and sisters, the hostages, for this nation. True victory will be when they’re all back home,” he said.

At the main anti-government protest in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, the bereaved father of a victim of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attacks, blamed the government for her murder.

“As far as I’m concerned, he, 68 members of Knesset… and his partners are guilty of her murder,” said Eran Littman, whose daughter Oriya was killed at the Nova music festival during the Hamas onslaught.

His daughter died in a “religious war,” he said, having been murdered by “radical Islamists,” while accusing national religious members of the government of seeking to widen that war in Gaza and the West Bank, and ultra-Orthodox members of joining forces with Netanyahu “for budgets and draft evasion.”

The government “isolates Israel and makes it into a leper… and doesn’t bring back the languishing hostages,” he said. “They are agents of chaos, and ignite chaos in the West Bank, banishing people from their homes and causing the desperate to become terrorists, turn into monsters and murder Israelis.”

“We are a divided nation,” he said. “We must go back to being a peace-seeking nation. I have a dream that you’ll all wake up from your nightmare and your life will get back on track. And I’ll keep dreaming of Oriya.”

Hundreds of left-wing activists in Tel Aviv march in silence, holding candles and pictures of Gazan children killed by Israel since March 18 pic.twitter.com/9rOfecHtXs

— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) July 12, 2025

After the speeches, the crowd marched to protest in front of the IDF headquarters, where some 400 left-wing activists held a silent vigil for Gazan children killed in the war.

The protesters held candles and pictures of children killed in IDF strikes since Israel resumed hostilities in the Strip on March 18. Each picture showed the child’s name, date, place of death, and age when killed.

Louder anti-government protesters passed by the vigil, making their way to the larger demonstration on Begin Road, where Yehuda Cohen, father of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, accused Netanyahu of “buying time” to avoid his corruption trial, at the expense of his son.

“The past 21 months of fighting have been to buy time for the accused, Netanyahu,” said Cohen, speaking to some 1,500 protesters.

“Netanyahu is buying himself time for survival, to deflect his guilt and responsibility” for the failure of October 7, he said, vowing to continue the campaign to bring his son home.

“Another Saturday night, another speech, more crap and more desperation,” Cohen said. “But Netanyahu, I won’t give up — my son Nimrod will go free despite your stalling. In the end, Trump will force you to end this damn war and release Nimrod and all the other hostages in a deal. We won’t give up.”