Protesters gathered outside the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Reuters , quoted by BTA.

The crowd waved Israeli flags and chanted “Jail now!” and several hundred people slipped behind the police cordon around Netanyahu’s residence.

The protest, which coincided with an opinion poll showing more than three-quarters of Israelis think Netanyahu should resign,
was a testament to the growing rage among the public against the political and military leaders.

Netanyahu has so far not taken personal responsibility for the failures that made possible the surprise attack by hundreds of Hamas gunmen who swept into southern Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking at least 240 hostages.

The initial shock gave way to growing public anger. Many of the relatives of the hostages taken to Gaza strongly criticized the government’s response and called for their relatives to be returned home.

Thousands of people joined a protest in Tel Aviv. They waved flags, held photographs of some of the abductees, and placards with slogans such as “Free the hostages now at all costs” as the crowd chanted “Bring them home now”.

Ofri Bibas-Levi, whose brother along with his two young children – four-year-old Ariel and ten-month-old Kfir – are being held hostage by Hamas, told Reuters that she had come to support her relatives. “We don’t know where they are, we don’t know how they are. I don’t know if there is food for Kfir, I don’t know if Ariel is getting enough food,” she says.

After the attack, Israel launched an intense air and ground offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 9,000 people, according to health officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Whole areas in the enclave have been reduced to ruins.

Even before the war, Netanyahu was a divisive figure, facing corruption charges he denies and pushing a plan to curb the powers of the judiciary that sparked thousands of street protests.

A poll announced yesterday for the Israeli TV channel “Channel 13” showed that 76% of Israelis believe that Netanyahu – prime minister with a record sixth term – should resign, and 64% – that the country should call elections immediately after the war.

When asked who is primarily to blame for the Hamas attack, 44% of Israelis point to Netanyahu, 33% to the army chief of staff and senior officials of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and 5% to the defense minister, the poll shows.