TEL AVIV: Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv late Tuesday to protest the sacking of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, calling on his successor Israel Katz to prioritize a hostage deal to return the captives still held in Gaza. Chanting slogans against the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the demonstrators carrying flags of the Zionist entity gathered in the commercial hub shortly after Gallant’s dismissal was announced. Protesters also blocked traffic and lit fires on the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, with some wearing “Bring them home now!” t-shirts referring to the hostages.

They held up signs with slogans such as “We deserve better leaders” and “Leaving no one behind!” and one protester wore handcuffs and a face mask with Netanyahu’s likeness. “Bibi traitor! You’re guilty” chanted some, referring to Netanyahu and blaming him for failing to prevent the Hamas attack on October 7 last year. “We, the protesters, believe that Gallant ... is actually the only normal person in the government,” said 54-year-old teacher Samuel Miller, slamming Netanyahu’s administration for opening “new fronts in uncalled-for wars”.

“He’s doing nothing to safeguard our peace, the peace of the Palestinians, the peace of everybody in this region,” Miller told AFP. He also criticized Netanyahu’s government for “doing absolutely nothing to free the hostages” still held in Gaza. Foreign minister Israel Katz took over the defense portfolio on Tuesday, after Netanyahu fired Gallant over eroded trust over the past months of the Gaza war.

A group campaigning for the release of hostages in Gaza on Tuesday expressed “deep concern” over the sacking and urged Katz to “prioritize” a deal to free the captives. “We expect the incoming defense minister, Israel Katz, to prioritize a hostage deal ... to secure the immediate release of all hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

Gallant also called on the government to bring home the hostages, saying in a televised speech: “We must do this quickly, while they are still alive.” Einav Tzangauker, whose son Matan is among the hostages, was among those protesting against Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. “If it is possible to replace a defense minister in the middle of a war, then it is surely possible to replace a prime minister who is unqualified to bring back the hostages,” she told the Zionist entity’s Channel 12. Netanyahu “is intentionally endangering (the Zionist entity)’s security and all that because of a dispute between him and Gallant on how to continue the war,” she added. — AFP