Israel’s Hostage Protest Movement Finally Prevails — Against Its Government
The mood in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Monday morning was one of total jubilation as tens of thousands gathered to watch a live broadcast of 20 Israelis returning home from captivity in Gaza. Many of those in the crowd had participated in protests in the same square over the past two years, which gave it its name. This was the moment they had fought for and dreamed about for so long.
Each time news flashed up on the big screen that a hostage had been handed over to the Red Cross or passed into Israeli territory, the crowd erupted in cheers. Some cried, while others sang and danced. One group popped open a bottle of champagne.
Protests in support of a hostage deal, led by the families of hostages themselves, have been a constant feature of Israel’s wartime landscape, their numbers and intensity waxing and waning with developments in Gaza. Some among the crowd had blocked roads, earning them beatings by police or supporters of the government. Others had protested silently in front of ministers’ homes. Others still went on hunger strike or held small vigils in cities and towns across the country.
“This is so emotional,” said Sheli Bar-Nir, 34, from Tel Aviv, who stood in the front row at Hostages Square. “We’ve been fighting for this for over two years, and it’s finally happening. They’re finally coming home.”
“We played a huge part in this — showing up to protest was a big deal,” she continued. “Trump saw it and gave the final push, and that’s why we’re here today. We’ll keep showing up until the last hostage is home,” she added, in reference to the fact that Hamas is yet to hand over the remains of two dozen hostages who died in captivity.
Thousands gather at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to celebrate the release of the remaining hostages from Hamas captivity, October 13, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
One of the morning’s most emotional moments came when the crowd heard a phone call between the hostage Matan Zangauker and his mother Einav — a figurehead of the protest movement — just before he was released by Hamas. “There’s no more war, Matan,” Einav told him. “You won’t believe it, my love. Gaza will be okay. There’s no more war. Matan, you’re coming home. Everyone is coming home.”
While the hostage protests throughout the past two years largely avoided mentioning what Israel has inflicted on Gaza and its Palestinian residents, it was noteworthy that Einav made a point of saying, “Gaza will be okay.” This perhaps reflected her understanding, shared among a particular wing of the protest movement, that the fate of the hostages was intertwined with Gaza’s. The continued annihilation of the Strip and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians would have likely led to the death of her son.
Einav had broken away from the official Hostages and Missing Families Forum as early as winter 2024, frustrated with its apolitical stance and reluctance to criticize the Israeli government directly for its blatant torpedoing of ceasefire negotiations. She and several other families of hostages launched the more confrontational weekly demonstrations on the opposite side of Israel’s military headquarters, which took the name of the street they demonstrated on, “Begin.” Routinely blocking traffic and setting fires on highways, this group directed their ire at Netanyahu and his government for obstructing a deal that would release their loved ones.
In return, they endured incitement from government officials who labeled them “Hamas supporters” and accused them of “raising the price” that the militant group will demand in negotiations. Police and pro-government thugs were sent to beat them up and try to crush their protests.
But beyond the violence and incitement they faced, the movement’s biggest challenge was confronting the desire of the Israeli government to continue the war indefinitely. For months, Netanyahu, his allies, and the army pushed the narrative that only continued military pressure — more destruction in Gaza, and more killing of Palestinians — would force Hamas to return the hostages. In practice, this served as justification for genocide.
Although there was always a broad consensus among the Israeli public in support of getting the hostages back home, the Begin movement was in a minority in insisting that this would only be possible by ending the war. As time went on, this position proved increasingly justified: at least 41 hostages died or were killed in captivity, some at the hands of Hamas and others as a direct result of the Israeli army’s own bombs and bullets, whereas military operations rescued only a handful alive.
Family and friends of Israeli hostage Nimrod Cohen watch his release from Hamas captivity, Tel Aviv, October 13, 2025. (Dor Pazuelo/Flash90)
While gratitude for the Israeli government for finally agreeing to a complete hostage deal was in short supply, appreciation for the Trump administration has been ubiquitous ever since the agreement was announced last week. Many of those celebrating on Monday arrived with American flags, while some came dressed up as Trump. The prevailing sentiment was that without U.S. intervention, Netanyahu would have continued dragging out the war indefinitely.
Hundreds of thousands had also gathered in Hostages Square on Saturday night, where U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner — who was also involved in the negotiations — were greeted with applause (Netanyahu, whose criminal trial is ongoing in a court adjacent to the square, has never visited the site). When Witkoff tried to thank Netanyahu, the crowd erupted in boos before he could finish his sentence.
For the protesters, Trump, a figure they had directly appealed to in their protests, even before his re-election, was the one who saved them, not Netanyahu. This belief was validated when, during Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, Trump made clear that he had been paying attention: “They have signs with my name on them, and they love me, and they are asking for two things: Please bring back the hostages and end the war.”
Kushner was the only one on stage who mentioned the “civilians in Gaza” and acknowledged their suffering — though he quickly pivoted to praise Israeli soldiers and claimed Israel had not “mirrored the enemy’s barbarism.”
No going back to ‘normal’
By Monday afternoon, helicopters carrying the hostages began landing at hospitals in central Israel. At Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Ziv Berman was seen waving from a helicopter before later embracing his brother Gali, who had also been held captive in Gaza but by a separate group of Hamas fighters.
For many Israelis, especially those on the center-left, the return of the hostages represents closure. Their kidnapping — and more importantly, their prolonged abandonment — contradicted the values they were raised on, especially the Jewish religious duty of redeeming captives. For them, the government’s failure to bring the hostages home sooner was a betrayal of the state’s basic social contract to protect its citizens.
As a result of their return, many now feel they can finally breathe. The issue of the hostages consumed them daily for two years, making it emotionally difficult to lead normal lives. On Monday, some began calling Hostages Square by a new name, Returnees Square, marking the end of a dark chapter.
Evyatar David arrives at Beilinson Hospital in Israel after being released from Hamas captivity, October 13, 2025. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
The government, too, is hoping to move on from this chapter — and from its own responsibility for the security failures that led to the kidnappings — as soon as possible. In the days leading up to Trump’s visit, Transportation Minister Miri Regev sent municipal workers to hang U.S. and Israeli flags alongside roads and, at the same time, remove posters calling for the hostages’ return. She also ordered the removal of the burned-out cars that had been brought from the south by anti-government activists and placed along main highways to commemorate October 7.
Many now hope for a return to normalcy. But there are serious obstacles to that hope — chief among which is the catastrophe Israel has wrought in Gaza. Israeli society, aided by the mainstream media, has largely managed to ignore the genocide and the dire humanitarian situation created by Israel’s onslaught. Even after two years, most Israelis are wilfully unaware of the full extent of Israel’s crimes in the Strip. Others do know and blame it all on Hamas.
They now hope Israel’s international isolation will fade, that solidarity protests with Palestine will cease, and that everything can go back to how it was on Oct. 6, 2023. But that seems unlikely. When Gaza will be reopened to international media in the near future, reports of the horrors committed there will continue making headlines. And the millions around the world who have been horrified by the daily massacres will not forgive or forget in a hurry.
Some of the hostages released in previous ceasefires tried to warn the Israeli public about Gaza’s condition, revealing in interviews that their greatest fear in captivity was not their captors but the Israeli army’s airstrikes that threatened their lives. Small groups of radical left-wing activists also tried to break the wall of denial, regularly holding photos of Palestinian children killed in Gaza on the sidelines of hostage protests, or demonstrating at the fence encaging the Strip. They, too, were met with violence from both police and the right-wing public.
But even internally, Israel will struggle to return to “normal” after two years of war. Over 450 soldiers were killed in Gaza, on top of the 1,200 soldiers and civilians killed on October 7. Many thousands more are severely traumatized. Evacuees in the south and north have yet to return to their homes. Kibbutzim attacked on October 7 have seen little real rebuilding.
Among those celebrating this week were ministers and other Knesset members, as well as parts of the broader national-religious right, who for two years were willing to sacrifice the hostages on the altar of “total victory” — in other words, the annihilation of Gaza. They are now hoping to ride the wave of public euphoria to erase October 7 and recast themselves as the saviors rather than the forsakers.
But these efforts appear doomed to failure. Calls from the public and the opposition in Knesset for an official state commission of inquiry to independently investigate the failures of October 7 will only grow louder with the ceasefire. The boos at the mere mention of Netanyahu’s name on Saturday night are just the beginning.
Oren Ziv is a photojournalist, reporter for Local Call, and a founding member of the Activestills photography collective.