Some 200 retired and reserve Israeli Air Force pilots rallied outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv Tuesday evening to urge an immediate hostage deal and protest the cabinet’s recent decision last week to capture Gaza City, which came amid talk of occupying the entire Strip.
The decision, which reportedly came despite severe opposition from military brass, has sparked fears about the fate of the remaining hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups, as well as for soldiers, civilians, and Israel’s standing internationally.
Outside the military headquarters, protesters read aloud a letter from Tami Arad, the wife of Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad, who has been missing in action since bailing out of his plane above southern Lebanon in 1986.
“Thirty-nine years ago, I tried to explain that Ron’s time was running out… Today decision-makers already know what can happen — and yet the members of Israel’s government have decided to occupy Gaza,” the letter said.
Arad warned in the letter that the move “ignores the urgency to save the hostages,” and called the plan to conquer Gaza City “a death trap” — a reference to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir’s comments in last week’s 10-hour security cabinet meeting in which the plan to occupy the Strip was approved.
Former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz speaks during a protest of former and reserve air force pilots, along with other demonstrators, against the continuation of the war and for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, near the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, on August 12, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz told the crowd: “Enough! Stop this unnecessary war of folly.”
Addressing Zamir, Halutz added, “Do not let the messianics lead us into darkness… Any action to achieve an impossible goal could lead to the deaths… of the hostages.”
Zamir is widely reported to have opposed the plans for Gaza during security cabinet meetings and to have told cabinet members they might as well formally remove the goal of returning the hostages from Israel’s official war aims.
In addition to concern for the hostages, protesters also sounded the alarm over potential military casualties.
“Don’t lay a hand on the boy,” said reservist pilot Guy Poran, quoted in Hebrew media, invoking the biblical Binding of Isaac.
“Don’t sacrifice our sons to death in Gaza when the goal is not Israel’s security, and is not the return of the hostages, and is against the opinion of the large and clear majority of the public,” he said.
Former and reserve air force pilots, along with others, demonstrate against the continuation of the war and for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, near the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, on August 12, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
The demonstrators also appealed to Israel’s standing on the world stage, as well as the lives of civilians in Gaza.
In a statement issued in advance of the demonstration, pilots said the war is “exacting an unbearable toll from hostages who have languished in captivity for 676 days, is risking our soldiers’ lives in vain, is causing unnecessary harm to innumerable innocent civilians, and is degrading Israel’s standing in the world to an unprecedented low.”
The decision to expand the war has reportedly prompted mediating countries to scramble to renew hostage-ceasefire talks with Hamas; Israel has declared it seeks only a comprehensive agreement that would secure the release of all 50 remaining captives, of whom 20 are believed to still be alive and 28 have been confirmed dead — not another partial deal.
Air Force chief speaks to protesters outside his home
Separately, on Tuesday morning, mothers of combat soldiers protested outside the home of Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, demanding an end to the war.
“Stop collaborating with a clearly illegal war! Stop serving a messianic government that sacrifices soldiers and hostages! Show responsibility, Commander, and stop this suicidal failure!” the mothers said, according to a statement by the Israeli Pro-Democracy Protest Movement.
“Tomer Bar, Commander of the Air Force, you can also take off toward a future of peace,” they said.
Bar emerged from his home in Moshav Ateret to speak to the protesters. They asked him to help stop the war and support the IDF chief of staff in speaking out against occupying Gaza, according to the statement.
Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar speaks to protesters outside his home in Moshav Asheret, on August 12, 2025. (Tanya Zion-Waldoks/Israeli Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during press conferences on Sunday that Israel does not seek to occupy the Gaza Strip long term, and wants instead to see the enclave demilitarized and handed to a peaceful Arab government affiliated with neither Hamas nor the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
But, he said, “given Hamas’s refusal to lay down its arms, Israel has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas,” explaining his decision to go forward with the Gaza City takeover plan, which he called “the first step.”
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker sits next to a fake coffin draped in an Israeli flag during a protest for the release of those held hostage in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, on August 12, 2025. (Flash90)
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 60,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 459. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.