Published January 06,2024
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Thousands of people took to the streets across Israel again on Saturday to protest against right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on him to resign over his handling of the Gaza war.
"We won't give up" and "Government of Evil" were among the slogans shouted by demonstrators in Tel Aviv and Haifa during rallies through the city centres.
Israel was rocked by a wave of mass protests last year, following controversial reform plans by Netanyahu's right-wing religious government coalition to weaken the judiciary.
Those protests were largely put on hold following the October 7 attacks by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas from the Gaza Strip on Israeli border communities. Now protests cover a range of grievances, with the war in Gaza looming largest. Many are also demanding a swift return to negotiations over the release of more hostages.
However, as Israel's military campaign to eliminate Hamas from Gaza is about to enter into its fourth month, protesters were joined by relatives of some of those killed on October 7, as well as people who have been displaced from their homes near the borders with Gaza and Lebanon due to the fighting.
A resident of Kiriat Schmona in northern Israel near the Lebanese border, which has seen repeated confrontations between Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, an ally of Hamas, and Israeli forces since the outbreak of the Gaza war, accused Netanyahu of having failed to take responsibility for the October 7 massacre, according to the Haaretz newspaper.
