With additional reporting from TPS
Former hostages, including some released in recent weeks, were among the tens of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets on Tuesday to protest Israel’s resumption of fighting in Gaza.
“Israel’s decision to return to fighting brings me back to Gaza, to the moments where I heard the sounds of explosions around me and where I feared for my life as I was afraid that the tunnel where I was being held would collapse,” Yarden Bibas said in a social media post ahead of the rally where he appeared in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, holding signs showing the faces of his best friends, David and Ariel Cunio, who remain in captivity.
“My wife and children were kidnapped alive and were brutally murdered in captivity,” Bibas continued. “The military pressure endangers the hostages while an agreement brings them home.”
Noa Argamani, who was rescued by Israeli troops last summer and who did not appear at the rally, also decried the return to fighting in a social media post.
“Two words, and so many emotions inside. Suddenly, out of the silence, all hopes explode in an instant. Two words, but for the hostages inside, they mean explosions and noises that bring back the fear of dying,” she wrote.
To her partner Avinatan Or, who is one of an estimated two dozen hostages who remain alive, she said, “I’m sorry, Avinatan. I’m sorry that for 529 days, you haven’t seen daylight. I’m sorry that you were left behind.”
The posts and protests came after Israeli leaders resumed fighting in Gaza after a two-month ceasefire. They said Hamas had refused to accept their parameters for continuing the pause.
A different hostage advocacy group, the Tikva Forum, however, backed the renewed military campaign as a necessary step to force Hamas into a deal.
“The past few weeks have proven what we have been saying all along — Hamas will never return all the abductees voluntarily,” the Forum said. “Only massive military pressure, a complete siege that includes a power and water cut, and the occupation of territories that will lead to the collapse of Hamas, will lead it to beg for a ceasefire and a deal that will return all the abductees together, in one fell swoop.”
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any further negotiations would happen “under fire.” He also thanked US President Donald Trump for what he said was Trump’s backing for the return to fighting. Trump had put pressure on both Israel and Hamas to agree to the ceasefire deal that began in January, in which 33 hostages, mostly living, were freed.
Hamas insisted on the original ceasefire terms, which called for Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent end to the war in exchange for the remaining hostages. However, Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to continue operations until Hamas is dismantled. Talks over phase two of the agreement, set to begin February 3, never took place.
Despite this, the ceasefire held for weeks as mediators sought new terms. Last week, US envoy Steve Witkoff proposed extending phase one of the ceasefire in exchange for the release of five hostages. However, Witkoff dismissed Hamas’ response to the proposal as unacceptable, warning of consequences if the group did not reconsider.
Netanyahu is facing steep criticism from many Israelis who see his choice to resume fighting as timed to be personally advantageous. The resumption came as he was expected in court for proceedings related to his corruption trial, and as he faced a mass protest — which continued in Jerusalem — against his move to fire the head of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service.
The return to war also allowed Netanyahu to shore up his governing coalition. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right politician who heads the Otzma Yehudit party, had exited the government to protest the ceasefire. He has now rejoined.
