Live Updates: Israel strikes Lebanon and Gaza as wars with Hamas and Hezbollah continue

Huge crowds of protesters gathered in several Israeli cities on Saturday, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government make the return of the hostages in Gaza their top priority.

In Tel Aviv, people protested outside the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces, blocking traffic and chanting anti-government slogans.

Eran Nissan, a peace activist from the Israeli progressive group Mehazkim, has been attending anti-government demonstrations since January last year. On Saturday, he handed out T-shirts and stickers with derogatory messages about Israel’s far-right security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir.

Nissan said a ceasefire deal for the hostages was the central demand of the protests. “The hostage issue is the first, second and third priority,” he told CNN, adding that he believed the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar presented an opportunity to finally agree a deal.

“There is a solid majority and consensus in Israeli society on this, 105 hostages have (already) been returned in an agreement,” he said, referring to the week-long ceasefire and hostage exchange that took place last November.

Israeli authorities say 101 hostages are still being held in Gaza, but up to a third of them are believed to be dead.

He added that he believed the current government had an interest in prolonging the war.

“They know that after the war is over, they will have to answer questions about how they were complicit in bringing Israel to the October 7th (terrorist attack), and that there will be a national investigation and that there will be a demand for elections. And any poll you see right now shows they’re going to be hit hard,” he said.

Saturday’s large-scale protests were among the first in Israel since the government banned large gatherings on security grounds following the Oct. 1 Iranian ballistic missile attack, which Iran said it was a response to the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.