Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrate again against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Tel Aviv

They tirelessly demand early elections and the return of hostages held in Gaza. Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered on Saturday June 22 in Tel Aviv to protest against the government of far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the organizers, the rally brought together more than 150,000 people, the highest number in the streets since the start of the war in Gaza triggered by the deadly attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7.

On the signs, the slogans qualified Benjamin Netanyahu as “minister of crime” and asked: “Stop the war.” Some demonstrators lay down on the ground covered in red paint in the city’s Democracy Square to protest what they see as “the death of democracy” in the country. Speaking to the crowd, Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, called the government leader a “Israel’s worst prime minister”.

Eight months after the start of the conflict, the Israeli offensive has caused a humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian enclave, displacing 2.4 million Palestinians, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In a report by Hamas authorities, more than 37|500 people were killed in the enclave. As to 251 people kidnapped in Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 116 are still held in the besieged Palestinian enclave, of whom 41 are dead, according to the army.

While negotiations for a ceasefire stall between Israel and Hamas in power in the Gaza Strip, the war has also caused an outbreak of violence on the Israeli-Lebanese border, where confrontations are almost daily. .

Exchanges of fire between the army and Hezbollah, a movement allied to Hamas and supported by Iran, have intensified in recent weeks, raising fears of destabilization of the region.