Thousands of Israelis have demonstrated in several cities, including West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, to demand a deal with Palestinian groups to secure the release of captives held in besieged Gaza.
Families of the hostages and supporters organised a protest outside the Israeli government headquarters in West Jerusalem, coinciding with a ministerial meeting on Thursday, according to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
The meeting focused on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan for the full reoccupation of Gaza, which Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir described as a "strategic trap."
Military leaders have warned that moving forward with the plan could result in the deaths of the captives.
Protesters in West Jerusalem held photos of their loved ones held in Gaza, including those who are alive.
In Tel Aviv, thousands of Israelis amassed outside the headquarters of Netanyahu's Likud Party to pressure him into negotiating a deal with Hamas.
Other demonstrations took place in Haifa and the Negev, where protesters also called for a deal to bring the captives home.
'Israel has lost its moral compass'
Yehuda Cohen, the father of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza, said that Netanyahu is prolonging the war to satisfy extremists in his regime and to prevent it from collapsing.
"Netanyahu is working only for himself," he said, pleading with the international community to put pressure on Netanyahu to stop the war and save his son.
"The only way to bring the hostages home is to halt the war and end the suffering of the hostages and all those living through this terrible conflict — including Gaza residents, soldiers, families, and all of us," protester Sharon Kangasa-Cohen, a historian, told the AFP news agency.
"If they retake Gaza or decide to reoccupy it militarily, the hostages' lives will be in even greater danger, and Israeli society as a whole will be threatened," she said.
Pepe Alalu, a former deputy mayor of West Jerusalem and a well-known figure of the city's left wing, said he came to the protest because "I simply couldn't stay away."
"We have to save the hostages," he said, adding that in his view, "Israel has lost its moral compass."
Tel Aviv estimates that 50 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, including 20 believed to be alive.
Meanwhile, Israel is holding more than 10,800 Palestinian detainees, many of whom face torture, starvation, and medical neglect, according to Palestinian and Israeli rights groups.
Hamas has repeatedly affirmed its readiness to release all Israeli captives "in one batch" in exchange for an end to Israel's genocidal war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israel has been carrying out a genocide in Gaza since October 2023. Palestinians have recorded killings of more than 61,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Some 11,000 Palestinians are feared buried under rubble of annihilated homes, according to Palestine's official WAFA news agency.
Experts, however, contend that the actual death toll significantly exceeds what the Gaza authorities have reported, estimating it could be around 200,000.
The ongoing genocide has devastated the besieged enclave and caused starvation crisis there.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
