Restive protesters demand Gaza deal, look to Trump after video shows hostage alive

Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Saturday night to call for a deal to free hostages held in Gaza for over 450 days, hours after Hamas released a propaganda video showing captive soldier Liri Albag alive.

The rallies took place as an Israeli delegation was in Qatar for negotiations aimed at bridging longstanding differences after months of fruitless efforts to reach a deal with the Hamas terror group to free hostages held in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 attack.

At least five people were arrested in Tel Aviv as anti-government protests focused on pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration to reach a hostage deal turned restless, ending weeks of relative calm between demonstrators and police.

Albag, a surveillance soldier, was abducted from the Nahal Oz military base along with six others. She is one of 96 hostages believed to still be in captivity in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

The Hamas propaganda video was not dated, although Albag stated in it that she has been held for over 450 days, indicating that it was filmed recently. Saturday marked the 456th day of the crisis.

Relatives of hostages urged the public to take to the streets en masse at the weekly Saturday night demonstrations following the release of the video, which Albag’s family has asked Israeli news outlets not to air.

“The sign of life from Liri is harsh and undeniable proof of urgency in bringing all the hostages home,” the Hostage Families Forum said in a statement. “Every day in Hamas’s hell in Gaza poses an immediate risk of death to the living hostages and endangers the ability to recover the fallen for proper burial.”

In Tel Aviv, speakers addressing a crowd of some 1,500 anti-government protesters gathered near military headquarters called on US President-elect Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza and secure a deal.

“Stop arming the revenge campaign in Gaza,” said Shahar Mor, the nephew of slain hostage Avraham Munder, speaking in English, even as sources in the US confirmed that outgoing US President Joe Biden was seeking a congressional okay for a new $8 billion arms deal with Israel.

“We need our hostages back. We’ll perish without them,” Mor said. “The former administration failed miserably. You can do better.”

Omri Lifshitz, son of captivity survivor Yocheved Lofshitz and hostage Oded Lofshitz, also addressed Trump in English, asking that he “End this fucking war now.”

Below, an anti-government group handed out red hats adorned with those same words in big white letters — seemingly mimicing Trump’s iconic “Make America Great Again” hats.

שער בגין, עכשיו: אלפים בדרישה לעצור את הקומבינות של ממשלת ההפקרה ולהחזיר את האחיות והאחים שלנו משבי חמאס!
צילום: שב״פ sha_b_p@ pic.twitter.com/YSiB9hgH37

— Stand With Israel ???????? (@TheBlackFlags1) January 4, 2025

Trump has repeatedly threatened harsh action if the hostages remain in captivity once he takes office on January 20, but talks on a deal have remained stuck due to various issues, including Hamas’s demand that any agreement include an end to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Protesters later hoisted burning torches and lit bonfire on the road, clashing with police who attempted to clear the roadway.

Mounted police were seen charging into crowds and footage showed cops shoving away protesters trying to stop them from carrying people off the road. A policeman also snatched a megaphone from the hands of one protester and tossed it into the ashes of a bonfire the demonstrators had lit.

Police said five people were detained for disturbing public order after “officers were caught in clashes including shoving and attempts to stop them” from deploying.

There had been no arrests at the weekly protests since the beginning of December, when Hamas released a video of hostage Matan Zangauker.

In Jerusalem, four protesters were detained by police outside Netanyahu’s residence, the Walla news site reported.

Police violently detain a protester at the weekly anti-government, pro-hostage deal demonstration outside the IDF’s Begin Street headquarters. pic.twitter.com/33Yi689PP3

— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) January 4, 2025

Speaking earlier to demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon said the government has less courage than “a young female soldier named Liri,” referring to Albag, 19.

He also assailed the impending legislation to exempt thousands of ultra-Orthodox men from military service, saying: “It’s not just sharing the burden, not just equality of blood, it’s a real operational necessity.”

Recalling his time in captivity, Almog Meir Jan told the crowd at a Hostages Square rally that he was “bound and broken, physically and mentally.”

Meir Jan said he will “never forget the hand that saved my life” in June when Israeli security forces rescued him and three other hostages from Gaza. Military officials have cautioned that such rescues are likely not a viable option for releasing the scores remaining in captivity.

“The hand stretched out to hostages and their families is a deal that must be signed,” Meir Jan said. “A deal to save their lives, a deal to save all our lives.”

In Jerusalem, hundreds of demonstrators demanding a hostage deal marched to Netanyahu’s home, carrying a banner that read: “They are all humanitarian,” referring to the hostages.

Negotiations for a release deal have focused on an initial stage that would see “humanitarian” cases freed first, but families have demanded that all hostages be let go at once.

At a demonstration near Netanyahu’s official residence in the capital, protesters dressed in minimal clothing blocked King George Street, their skin daubed with Hebrew and Arabic writing that read: “They are freezing to death in Gaza,” and similar messages.

Protesters in Jerusalem also memorialized Staff Sgt. Yuval Shoham, who was killed in the Gaza Strip last Sunday. The soldier was the son of a prominent anti-government activist in Jerusalem, Efi Shoham.

From onstage outside Netanyahu’s home, organizers screened a clip of Shoham eulogizing his son last week, calling on the government to reach a deal with Hamas to free the remaining hostages. “On the fresh grave of my beloved son, our beloved son… I demand of you, demand in his name and in the name of so many others, to make a deal,” Shoham said at the funeral.

Saturday’s protests and the release of Hamas’s latest propaganda clip coincided with ongoing hostage negotiations in Doha, where Qatari mediators met with a mid-level Israeli negotiating team and Hamas representatives for parallel discussions aimed at overcoming ongoing differences between the warring parties.

Talks had stalled for roughly a week and a half after the prime minister called back Israel’s negotiating team from Qatar for internal deliberations on December 25. Since then, optimism about the potential for a deal before Trump’s inauguration waned.

After the talks wrapped up on Friday, a senior Israeli official told Axios that Israel and Hamas remain at an impasse over almost all issues and that the negotiations were advancing very slowly as a result. Nevertheless, the official said it would become clear within a week whether or not a deal could be reached.

The war broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.