Jerusalem (AP) – Protesters in Israel demanding a hostage agreement degenerated its campaign on Sunday with a day’s national strike that blocked the roads and closed companies, while the police have exploded crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests.
The “day of the judgment” was organized by two groups representing some of the hostages and bereaved families, weeks after the release of militant groups Hostage videos and Israel announced plans for a new offensive.
The demonstrators, who fear that new fights will endanger the 50 hostages suspected of staying in Gaza, of which only about twenty are considered to be alive, sang: “We do not win a war against the hostages.”
The demonstrators gathered at dozens of points across Israel, in particular the houses of politicians outside, the military seat and on the main highways, where they were sprayed with water cannons while they were blocking tracks and lights of joy on which have covered smoke. Some restaurants and theaters have been closed in solidarity.
Police said they had arrested 32 as part of the national demonstration – one of the fiercest since the up -end of six hostages found dead in Gaza last September.
“Military pressure does not bring the hostages back – that only kills them,” said old hostage Arbel Yehoud during a demonstration on the hostage square of Tel Aviv. “The only way to bring them back is to make an agreement, at the same time, without games.”
Netanyahu’s allies oppose any agreement that leaves Hamas to power
“Today, we stop everything to save and bring the hostages and soldiers back. Today, we stop everything to remember the supreme value of the holiness of life,” said Anat Arestrest, mother of the hostage Matan Arestrest. “Today, we stop everything to reach our hands – right, left, center and everything else.”
The demonstrators block a road during a demonstration requiring the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas and calling on the Israeli government to reverse its decision to resume the city of Gaza and other areas of the Gaza Strip, near Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday August 17, 2025. (AP Photo / Ohad Zwigenberg)
The demonstrators of the highway intersections distributed yellow ribbons, the symbol which represents the hostages, the hostage forum and the disappeared families, which organized the stop.
Even if the largest union in Israel, Histadrut, ultimately did not join the action on Sunday, the strikes of this magnitude are relatively rare in Israel. Many companies and municipalities have decided independently of strike.
However, the end of the conflict does not appear close. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the immediate release of hostages but balances competing pressures, haunted by the mutiny potential in his coalition.
The far -right members of his cabinet insist that they do not support any agreement that allows Hamas to keep power. The last time Israel has accepted a cease-fire that has published hostages, They threatened to overthrow The government of Netanyahu.
On Sunday, the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, described the stopping “a bad harmful campaign that plays in the hands of Hamas, buried the hostages in the tunnels and tries to bring Israel to go to his enemies and compromise his security and his future.”
The Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, in a statement, accused demonstrators of having tried “to weaken Israel”. Like Smotrich, he said that the strike “strengthens Hamas and delays the return of hostages”.
‘No other option’
Hospitals and eyewitnesses in Gaza reported that 17 aid seekers had been killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, including nine aid trucks near the Morag corridor.
Hamza Asfour said he was just north of the corridor while waiting for a convoy, when Israeli elite shooters fired, first to disperse the crowd, then from tanks to hundreds of meters (yards).
He saw two people with gunshot wounds – one in the chest and others on the shoulder.
“It is either to take this risk or wait and see my family starving,” he said. “There is no other option.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, who manages the distribution points, said that there was no shots on Sunday “or near” of its sites, which are at the end of the truck roads.
People participate in a demonstration demanding the end of the war, the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Saturday August 16, 2025.
The Israeli army did not immediately answer questions about strikes in the three areas.
The air and land war of Israel has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza and moved most of the population. The United Nations warns that Famine levels and malnutrition In Gaza, have been at their highest level since the start of the war.
The attack by Hamas in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. The Israel’s reprisal offensive killed 61,897 people in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health, which does not specify how much combatants or civilians were, but says that around half were women and children.
On Sunday, two children died of causes related to malnutrition in Gaza, bringing the total in the past 24 hours to seven, according to the ministry, which is part of the government managed by Hamas and with health professionals. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on the victims. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
Help the flow well below what is necessary
While the demonstrators in Israel demanded a cease-fire, Israel began to prepare for an invasion of Gaza City and other parts populated by the besieged band, aimed at destroying Hamas.
The military organization which coordinates its humanitarian aid in Gaza said on Sunday that the supply of tents to the territory would resume. Cogat said that this would allow the United Nations to resume import and refuge tents in Gaza before plans to force people from “for their protection” combat areas.
The majority of the assistance has been prevented from entering Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade in March after A cease-fire collapsed When Israel has restarted his offensive. Deliveries have since partially resumed, although help organizations say that the flow is much lower than what is necessary. Some have accused Israel of “the armament of aid” through the blockages and the rules they say they transform humanitarian aid into a tool of its political and military objectives.
Arde on the power plant in Yemen
Israeli air strikes hit the capital of Yemen on Sunday, increasing the strikes Houthi supported by Iranwhich since the start of the war has shot missiles over Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea.
The FDI and a television station managed by Houthi in Yemen announced the strikes. Al-Masirah Television said they were targeting a power station in the southern Sanhan district, causing a fire and getting it out of the service, the Yemeni station said. The Israeli army said that Sunday strikes target the targeted energy infrastructure which it claimed to be used by the Houthis and was launched in response to missiles and drones aiming Israel.
While some projectiles have violated its missile defenses – especially during its 12 -day war With Iran in June – Israel intercepted the vast majority of missiles launched from Yemen.
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Melzer reported Nahariya, Israel and Magdy of Cairo.
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