Tel Aviv anti-government protesters rage at PM; Silent vigil for Gaza’s slain children swells in size

Anti-government, pro-hostage deal protesters in front of the IDF headquarters on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road start clearing off as the protest winds down following angry speeches from a former hostage and the parents of young men still held captive in the Strip.

During the protest, smokestacks were lit and chants of “Why are they still in Gaza?” could be heard, accompanied by drumming.

Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, and Yehuda Cohen, father of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, repeat their accusations from earlier this evening that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is abandoning the hostages.

Referring to Netanyahu’s statement this week that Hamas used cheap equipment including “flip-flops amd Kalachnikovs” in the onslaught of October 7, 2023, Cohen says, incredulously, that the premier thinks “Nimrod’s tank was taken over with flip-flops.”