A crowd of some 1,500 people gathered at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square on Saturday night to protest the government, as smaller crowds gathered in Jerusalem, Haifa and other locales across the country.
Among the demonstrators’ demands were the return of the last deceased hostage from Gaza, a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, and that President Isaac Herzog not grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a pardon in his ongoing corruption trial.
“We are guided by the Jewish and Israeli values we were raised on, and we fight today because Ran Gvili is still in Gaza,” said the emcee, Kalanit Sharon, head of the Pink Front performing arts protest group, referring to the last hostage whose body is still held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
After the speech, the crowd sang the national anthem and listened to a speech by Ron Scherf of the Brothers in Arms reservist protest group, which clashed this week with Education Minister Yoav Kisch after he declared the group’s activists would be banned from speaking in schools.
“You think they’ll stop us from speaking to students? They’ll shut one door, and we’ll open 50,” he said.
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“We’re fighting for the State of Israel’s identity and existence. Will we be a Jewish, democratic, strong and secure state, or a zealous messianist one?”
Brothers in Arms leader Ron Scherf speaks during a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, on December 13, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Carmit Palty Katzir, whose brother Elad was killed in Hamas captivity, said a “moral gulf” separates Netanyahu from his detractors.
“‘They sanctify death, and we sanctify life,’” she said, quoting Netanyahu’s own comments about Hamas. “Netanyahu said these words and allowed countless deaths and murders to take place.”
“We are paying dearly for this conduct,” she said.
Referring to her brother and some 40 other hostages who were killed in captivity, Palty Katzir said, “each one is an indictment” against Netanyahu.
People protest against a pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, on December 13, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
She said Herzog should have immediately rejected Netanyahu’s request that the president put an end to the criminal proceedings against the premier, who is accused of corruption.
“Netanyahu is not asking for a pardon and is not worthy of a pardon,” she said. “He is asking to stay in power, without checks or balances. President Herzog should have immediately thrown out such a request.”
Eyal Eshel, father of slain surveillance soldier Roni Eshel, slammed a reported proposal that Herzog pardon Netanyahu in exchange for a state commission of inquiry into failures surrounding the October 7 attack — something Netanyahu has resisted.
“There will be no pardon for Saturday, October 7,” he said. “There will be no pardon for the people who failed in a manner that brought about the debacle and disaster.”
Eyal Eshel, whose daughter Roni Eshel was serving as a surveillance soldier when she was killed on October 7, 2023, speaks at a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, on December 13, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
The demonstration dispersed after Sharon, the emcee, led the crowd in singing the Hanukkah song “We’ve come to banish the darkness.” The eight-day festival of light begins on Sunday night.
In addition to the main demonstration in Tel Aviv, protests were held in Jerusalem, Haifa and at other cities and junctions across the country.
In the southern community of Sha’ar Hanegev — Gvili’s hometown — freed hostage Eitan Horn said: “Until Ran returns home, I cannot begin my recovery. We all feel this pain, and for us this process cannot start until he returns.”
He declared: “We must not stop! We need the entire nation of Israel to unite to support the Gvili family, regardless of political opinion. This is the time to learn from the mistakes we’ve made as a society and as a people, and to repair this, by not leaving Ran behind.”
In Meitar, Lishay Miran Lavi, the wife of freed hostage Omri Miran, said: “We must not leave anyone behind. I’m here because I promised that I would be wherever they needed me until the last hostage’s return. I am here because this wound won’t scab, and none of us can get up and recover as long as Ran is still there.”
Anti-government protesters rally at Habima Square, Tel Aviv, on December 13, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Israel was roiled in 2023 with weekly protests on Saturday nights against the government’s plans to overhaul the judiciary. The demonstrations, which brought hundreds of thousands to the streets, stopped after the Hamas attack on October 7 triggered the subsequent war.
Weekly protests soon resumed, however, demanding the government strike a deal with the terror group to secure the return of the hostages it abducted in the onslaught.
Most of those protests ended soon after the return of all remaining living hostages as part of a US-brokered ceasefire deal reached in October. However, the return of deceased hostages’ bodies has lagged, and protests have persisted, both to demand that the state ensure that every last hostage is returned to Israel for burial, and against the government generally.
Gvili is the only hostage whose body remains in Gaza. Terror groups in Gaza purport not to know where he is buried, though a report from the Channel 12 news outlet on Friday said Israel has provided mediators with a list of the names of Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives believed to have direct knowledge of his body’s location.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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