“Matan asked for noise, so give him noise!” Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held in Gaza, told a crowd in Tel Aviv on Sunday, August 17, 2025. By the Hostages and Missing Families Forum’s estimate, more than 500,000 people were listening.
The rally closed a day of strikes and street protests that the forum put at about 1 million participants nationwide. Organizers, speaking for families of hostages and bereaved families, called it a “day of stoppage.” Roads were blocked and businesses shut as protesters demanded a ceasefire and a deal to bring the hostages home, 22 months into the war.
Roads blocked, arrests made
Police gave different arrest counts. The Times of Israel reported 44 people detained as demonstrators blocked roads and clashed with officers near Likud headquarters. Israel Police said 39, per the Jerusalem Post. CBS News reported 32, and said police used water cannons.
The Jerusalem Post described 20 arrests on the northern side of the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, where protesters were accused of ignoring police instructions. Others were taken in along Begin Highway and in Jerusalem, where a water cannon cleared demonstrators from the tunnel opening to Highway 16. Protesters held up the KKL-JNF and La Guardia junctions for roughly 30 minutes, and similar actions took place in Beersheba and Haifa.
Not every encounter involved police. Near the Ra’anana junction a truck driver attacked a protester, and in Kfar Saba a motorist pepper-sprayed demonstrators.
Who joined, who stayed out
Days before the strike, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa, the Open University of Israel and the Technion said they would take part. So did Israel’s Bar Association and the Hi-Tech Forum, whose members include Wix and Fiverr. The Histadrut labor federation, which represents 800,000 workers, held back from official participation, though its chairman told individual workers they were free to strike.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid urged Israelis to join: “Strike because the families asked, and that is reason enough.”
The government side was dismissive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the protests benefited Hamas. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the stoppage “harmful” and said it “plays into Hamas’ hands,” while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir likewise argued that the strikes help Hamas.
Voices from the families
Ofir Braslavski, father of hostage Rom, said the whole country had seen what was happening, “but the cabinet chose to expand the war and abandon them.” Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held, said he refused to let him “be sacrificed on that altar” of settlements in Gaza. In Tel Aviv, former hostage Arbel Yehoud argued that military pressure does not bring hostages back. Some protesters chanted: “We don’t win a war over the bodies of hostages.”
Roughly 50 hostages remain in Gaza, and about 20 are believed to be alive. Former hostage Eli Sharabi told the crowd that knowing the public stood behind captives “was worth ten meals.”
Sources
- Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in Tel Aviv at end of nationwide day of hostage protests
- Protesters in Israel conduct nationwide strike to demand ceasefire and release of hostages from Gaza
- Thirty nine people arrested in nationwide hostage protests
- Israel universities, hi-tech to join hostage strike
