Thousands of Israelis rallied across the country on Saturday evening for the return of the remains of 13 slain captives still held by Hamas as part of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The main rally was held at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where relatives of both the 20 living and 15 deceased hostages who returned following the deal, as well as family members of the captives whose bodies remain in the Gaza Strip, addressed the crowd.
Alon Nimrodi, who recently buried his son Tamir, called for Israel to “employ every possible sanction against the Hamas terrorist organization, which violates the deal time after time, and demand it completely fulfill the first clause — the return of all the hostages.”
The body of Nimrodi, who was taken hostage from his IDF base near the Erez Crossing on October 7, 2023, was returned last week alongside the remains of Eitan Levy and Uriel Baruch. Nimrodi’s death was unconfirmed until then, though Israel had expressed “grave concern” about him.
“I hate to say that I was right,” said his father. “In every meeting I attended with ministers, army and Shin Bet people, including opponents of a deal, I said — demanded — sign the deal and then we’ll take care of Hamas.”
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“I said I was convinced they would immediately violate the deal,” he said. “And I was right.”
Alon Nimrodi, the father of slain hostage Tamir Nimrodi, speaks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, days after burying his son, on October 25, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Under the US-brokered agreement, Hamas was required to return the last 20 living hostages within 72 hours of Israel’s initial October 10 withdrawal — which Hamas did — and hand over all slain hostages or information about them. Israel has accused Hamas of withholding the remains of hostages it has access to.
“The deal on the table isn’t perfect, but it’s our best chance” to recover the last bodies of the hostages,” said Noam Katz, whose murdered father, Lior Rudaeff, is still held in Gaza.
Rudaeff, an ambulance driver and volunteer medic, was killed fighting terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7. His family believed he was taken alive to Gaza until authorities confirmed in May 2024 that Lior was murdered on October 7 and his body taken captive.
“If the deal isn’t actualized, we’ll be giving up on this opportunity and return to an endless circle of blood,” Katz said.
Attendees at a rally at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, calling for the release of Israelis held by Hamas, October 25, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
“The past few days have been torture,” she continued. “There are days when I get up and my body just refuses to move.”
“And I get up, and fight so that I’ll have a grave to go to,” she said. “A place to lay flowers, a place to talk.”
Calls for accountability, peace
Anat and Hagai Angrest, whose soldier son Matan was one of the 20 living hostages released from Hamas captivity on October 13, called for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into failures surrounding the 2023 Hamas-led attack.
Thanking the thousands of people gathered at Hostages Square, Anat Angrest said she “takes a breath of relief as a mother along with the mothers of combat soldiers, who now know that when they send their children to fight for the country, the country will fight for them too in difficult times — if necessary, even against messianic decision-makers who agreed to give up and sacrifice the brave fighters.”
“As a combat soldier, Matan was forced to suffer horrific interrogations in the tunnel dungeons, while seriously wounded and bleeding between life and death for months on end,” said Anat.
Anat Angrest, mother of freed hostage Matan Angrest, speaks during a protest at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, calling for the release of Israelis held by Hamas, October 25, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Matan “breathed the last breath” of his three fellow tank crew-members, all of whom were killed on October 7, and his “eyes are awash with tears” when he thinks of how the remains of one of his comrades, Itay Chen, are still in Gaza, she said.
“So we don’t stop — we go on until everyone comes back,” said Anat, adding that a timely ceasefire deal could have “saved the lives of 44 hostages” who were killed in captivity.
“We join the call to investigate the events of October 7 and form a state commission of inquiry to understand why so many citizens were murdered, maimed and abducted,” she added. “We ask to add an additional clause to investigate the conduct of the negotiations and the decisions to prolong the longest war in the country’s history.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls to establish a state commission of inquiry, saying such a commission would be biased against him since it is led by the judiciary, which his government has sought to weaken.
On Wednesday, the Knesset State Control Commission, where his coalition members hold the majority, nixed the opposition’s latest bid to form a state commission of inquiry.
Peace activist Maoz Inon, whose parents, Bilha and Yakov Inon, were murdered at Kibbutz Netiv Ha’Asarah on October 7, 2023, appealed for optimism as he spoke to roughly 100 people gathered outside the IDF headquarters’ Begin Road gate.
Peace activist Maoz Inon, whose parents were murdered by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in Netiv HaAsara, addresses a peace conference in Jerusalem on May 9, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
He said his late father was “the greatest farmer in the world” and always knew things would get better, no matter how bad the year’s crops were.
“Next year will be better,” said Inon, citing his father.
He went on to sing the praises of the so-called “dumpster detainees,” six anti-government protesters arrested for torching dumpsters and inadvertently setting a car ablaze near Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence last month.
The six protesters are “in a cell, political prisoners of a repressive regime,” said Inon. “My heart is with their families.”
“But my heart, which was broken into thousands of pieces on October 7, is not just with them — my heart is also with the Palestinian friend my children were with in the summer camp run by the bereaved families forum,” he added, referring to the Parents Circle-Families Forum, which brings together Israelis and Palestinians who have lost loved ones to the conflict.
The aforementioned Palestinian friend, a 15-year-old, is one of some 3,500 Palestinians being held in administrative detention, a practice that allows Israeli security forces to detain Palestinians, often for months on end, without charge, trial, or access to legal counsel.
“No to political arrests of Israelis; no to administrative detention of Palestinians under the Israeli occupation,” said Inon. “Liberty for all, justice for all, equality for all.”
His speech and the remarks of other speakers were difficult to hear due to a pro-Netanyahu activist with a small microphone who argued with protesters while accompanied by a young man recording the confrontations to upload to social media. The arguments persisted after the demonstration dispersed, with some protesters all too eager to take the bait.