Protesters in Israel demand release of hostages as Israeli strikes kill 16 in Gaza, hospitals say

Protesters in Israel on Tuesday (August 26, 2025) torched tires, blocked highways and clamoured for a ceasefire that would free hostages still in Gaza, even as Israeli leaders moved forward with plans for an offensive which they argue is needed to defeat Hamas.

The disruption came as Palestinians in Gaza braced for the expanded offensive against a backdrop of displacement, destruction and parts of the territory plunging into famine.

It also followed deadly strikes a day earlier on Gaza’s main hospital which killed 20 people including medics and journalists. Among them was Mariam Dagga, a journalist who worked for The Associated Press.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to convene a Security Cabinet meeting later on Tuesday (August 26, 2025). However, the government said the meeting will not include discussion of ceasefire talks, according to an official with knowledge of the situation. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter, said there was a delegation from Egypt in Israel on Monday and they discussed the negotiations.

Mr. Netanyahu has said that Israel will launch an expanded offensive in Gaza City while simultaneously pursuing a ceasefire, though Israel has yet to send a negotiating team to discuss a proposal on the table.

Mr. Netanyahu has said the offensive is the best way to weaken Hamas and return hostages, but hostage families and their supporters have pushed back.

“Go back to the negotiation table. There’s a good deal on the table. It’s something we can work with,” said Ruby Chen, the father of 21-year-old Itay Chen, a dual Israeli-American citizen whose body is being held in Gaza.

“We could get a deal done to bring all the hostages back.” Hamas captured 251 hostages on October 7, 2023, in the attack that triggered the current war. Most have been released during previous ceasefires. Israel has managed to rescue only eight hostages alive. Fifty remain in Gaza, and Israeli officials believe around 20 are still alive.

Responding to a call from Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum for a “National Day of Struggle,” protesters waved banners that read “Hostage Deal Now.”

The relatives of hostages said they hope sustained public pressure can push Mr. Netanyahu and his security cabinet to commit to meaningful ceasefire talks. However, far-right members of his coalition have threatened to resign if Israel agrees to a truce, dismissing the protesters’ demands.

“We could have ended the war a year ago and brought all the hostages and soldiers home. We could have saved hostages and soldiers, but the prime minister chose, again and again, to sacrifice civilians for the sake of his rule,” said Einav Zangauker, whose 25-year-old son Matan was abducted from one of Israel’s hardest hit kibbutzim on October 7 and is among those believed to still be alive.

Israeli strikes continue after deadly hospital attack. Calls for a ceasefire came a day after Israel struck southern Gaza’s main hospital, killing at least five journalists and 15 others, including Dagga, who had covered doctors treating children for starvation at the same facility days before.

The strike, among the deadliest of the war against both journalists and hospitals, sparked shock and outrage among press freedom advocates and Palestinians, who mourned the dead at funerals on Monday.

It was swiftly condemned across the globe. Netanyahu called it a “tragic mishap” and said the military would investigate.

Most of those killed died after rushing to the scene of the first blast, only to be hit by a second strike — an attack captured on television by several networks.

The southern Gaza strike came as Israel prepares to expand its offensive into densely populated areas of northern Gaza. Israel’s military wants people in hospitals, displacement camps and Gaza City neighbourhoods to evacuate southward to so-called safe zones so it can destroy Hamas and prevent attacks like the October 7, 2023, assault that killed about 1,200 people and triggered the war.

A day after the strike, Israeli strikes killed at least 16 Palestinians on Tuesday, hospitals said.

Officials from Nasser Hospital, Shifa Hospital and Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan clinic reported that among the 16 were families, women and children.

Gaza’s Health Ministry also said on Tuesday that three more adults died of causes related to malnutrition and starvation, bringing the malnutrition-related death toll to 186 since late June, when the ministry started to count fatalities among this age category. The toll includes 117 children since the start of the war.

Israel’s military offensive has killed 62,819, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children.

The Ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

Israeli forces raid downtown Ramallah

Lines of Israeli military vehicles entered downtown Ramallah on Tuesday afternoon in a rare daytime raid on one of the largest Palestinian cities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military acknowledged an ongoing operation in the city but would not provide any information about the purpose of the raid.

Ramallah is the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, which cooperates with Israel on security and has been largely sidelined since the start of the war.

The city has faced similar raids before, including in May when Israeli forces targeted money transfer businesses there and in other Palestinian cities, alleging they had ties to militant groups.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said there were 58 injuries during the raid, including injuries from live fire, rubber bullets, tear gas inhalation, and “live bullet shrapnel.” Israeli armoured vehicles entered a busy downtown intersection in the city, stopping traffic. A few dozen people attempted to throw rocks at the military vehicles.

The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, with the Israeli military carrying out large-scale operations targeting militants that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. That has coincided with a rise in settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

There have been more than 1,000 attacks by Israeli settlers throughout 2025, with 11 Palestinians killed and roughly 700 injured, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.