Protests for new elections, release of hostages held in cities across Israel

Thousands of protesters called for "new elections now" on Habima Square and on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, Hebrew media reported.

The demonstrators marched from Habima Square to block traffic on Kaplan Street; there, police dispersed the protest and evacuated the demonstrators from the area, and roads were eventually reopened.

Five protesters were then arrested on Saturday evening at Kaplan Street on suspicion of violating public order, with a sixth demonstrator arrested for assaulting a policeman.

A rally for the release of the abductees was also held in "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv the same evening as they are every Saturday night. Meanwhile, several members of the hostages' families protested in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, following reports that Netanyahu traded barbs with families of the remaining Gaza hostages, who accused the prime minister of scolding them while not doing enough for the release of their loved ones.

At Hostages Square, the rally held was under the banner: NEVER AGAIN IS NOW. At the square, family members of the Righteous Among the Nations (an honorific used by Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives in order to save Jews from being murdererd by the Nazis) said: "Like our parents, who against all odds saved Jews and risked their lives against the Nazis, so you residents of Gaza can save the lives of the hostages and be recorded in the history books that you are on the right side of history!"

Holocaust survivors and their families speak out on behalf of hostages

The Hostages Square rally fell on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, with descendants of Holocaust survivors and leaders in Israeli society working to promote the memory of the Holocaust. Together they called on the Israeli government and world leaders to end the suffering of the abductees and rescue them.

The families of the abductees stand alongside tens of thousands in a clear message in response to the Prime Minister's statement against the rally: "We expect the Prime Minister to remember that he is an elected official whose job it is to correct the mistake, and not to scold those whose family members were kidnapped."

In Jerusalem the same evening, a policeman was recorded kicking a woman who was detained at a demonstration in Jerusalem, Walla reported. Police claimed that the protester attacked a police officer during the demonstration in Paris Square in the city.

Additional demonstrations against the government took place in several cities throughout the country, including in Haifa, Herzliya, Kfar Saba, Rehovot, and Beersheba, Walla reported. Organizers at the demonstration in Haifa said that there were around 2,000 participants.

Gadi Zaig contributed to this report.