Channel 12 reported that approximately 60,000 demonstrators filled Tel Aviv's Prisoners' Square, blocking downtown streets as part of protests against Netanyahu's government.
The families of the Israeli prisoners in Gaza said in a statement delivered during the demonstration: "Our sons are still in Gaza because someone decided to abandon them." They added that "the Netanyahu government's decision regarding Gaza contradicts the opinion of the Chief of Staff (Eyal Zamir) and sacrifices our sons."
The prisoners' families stressed that "the Netanyahu government's decisions are not in the interests of the state or the people."
Zamir had previously opposed Netanyahu's plan for Gaza, describing it as a "strategic trap," asserting that it would exhaust the army for years and endanger the lives of prisoners. However, he announced on Friday that preparations for its implementation had begun.
The statement issued by the prisoners' families stated that "the government's decision to expand military operations in Gaza poses a danger to the kidnapped prisoners and soldiers."
He stressed that "the state should have protected our children, but that did not happen. The army is operating in the areas where the kidnapped were located in Gaza and issuing death sentences against our children."
He also stressed that "extremist ideology has come to dominate Israel," emphasizing that "any call to end the war must include the release of the kidnapped soldiers."
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On Friday, the government approved a "gradual" plan presented by Netanyahu to occupy the entire Gaza Strip. The plan would begin with the occupation of Gaza City by displacing its nearly one million residents southward, then encircle the city and carry out incursions into population centers.
This was followed by the second phase, which included the occupation of the refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip, large parts of which were destroyed by Israel.
According to United Nations data, 87% of the Gaza Strip is already under Israeli occupation or subject to evacuation orders, warning that any further military expansion would have "catastrophic consequences."
During the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, the occupation army occupied all of Gaza City, with the exception of small areas, and remained there for several months before withdrawing from most of the city in April 2024, claiming to have "destroyed Hamas's infrastructure in the city."
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The genocide left 61,369 Palestinians dead and 152,862 injured, most of them children and women. More than 9,000 Palestinians were missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that claimed the lives of many.
