Thousands protest in Israel, urging government to do more to bring home hostages held in Gaza

Thousands gathered in front of the central military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday night to call on the Israeli government to do more to rescue the more than 200 hostages held in Gaza.

Between speeches in which families of the hostages described the pain they were in, waiting for their parents, children and grandchildren to come home, people chanted, "Bring them home now!"

According to the Israeli military, various Palestinian groups, including Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and staged the surprise attack on Israel on Oct 7, are believed to be holding more than 240 hostages, taken after Hamas stormed across the border in an assault that killed at least 1,400 people. Among the hostages are civilians, soldiers, children, older adults and people with medical problems. So far, Hamas has released four hostages, and Israeli forces rescued another one.

Before war against Hamas began last month, tens of thousands of Israelis had been gathering every Saturday evening on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv and across the country to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul.

But this event was "not an anti-government protest," said Rebecca Brindza, an organizer.

"Every family defines this a little differently," said Noa Weinheber, 23, a friend of one of the hostages, Liri Albag, 18. Albag, a soldier at the Nahal Oz military base, was taken hostage Oct7.

For the Albag family, "this is a protest," Weinheber said.

Still, she said she believes that the government is working hard to bring back the hostages. "The question is if they're choosing the right way to go about it," she added.

Maayan Matana, 27, who came cloaked in an Israeli flag, believes the government has made the right choice in beginning ground military operations. "There is no way to reach the hostages if we don't do a land invasion," she said.

Nimrod Kerrett, a 62-year-old Tel Aviv resident, is less confident. To him, a cease-fire is the right path forward.

Those debates are mostly kept private. On the surface, the crowd's message to the hostage families was united. "We are all here for them," Matana said. "We share their tears and their sadness."