‘We want our life back’: Tel Aviv protesters celebrate potential ceasefire with Hamas

TEL AVIV — With a heart-shaped balloon in her hand, Gili Coheb-Taguri, a 49-year-old material scientist wearing a Trump mask and a suit matching the president’s sartorial tastes, posed for the array of cameras and smartphones.

“This? It’s an origami mask,” she said to an inquiring passerby. “And yes, I made it myself.”

Coheb-Taguri was one of the thousands who came out on Saturday evening to Hostage Square, the courtyard in Tel Aviv that has become the site of weekly protests demanding the Israeli government secure the return of hostages kidnapped by Hamas after Oct. 7, 2023.

The rally, the first to be held after Hamas accepted President Trump’s ceasefire proposal on Friday, was just one of similar events taking place across Israel. Though the mood was somber, it nevertheless felt more hopeful than most other protests Coheb-Taguri had attended in the last two years.

“The reason I wore this costume is to thank Trump for what he did. People have been so depressed and when they see Trump here, they smile, ” she said through the mask before she took it off.

“The key point for us is the hostages,” she said. “It’s been two years and we want them back. We want our life back.”

The U.S. 20-point plan, which was drafted by the Trump administration with input from Israel and a number of Arab and Muslim nations, would see the Palestinian militant group release all 48 hostages it still has in its custody and hand over the reins of Gaza to a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee overseen by a “Board of Peace” led by Trump.

Israel, in turn, will return 1,700 detainees from Gaza and 250 prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails. It will also enter into a phased withdrawal of the Gaza Strip and will not occupy or annex the enclave. No Gaza resident will be forced to leave, and those who want to return are encouraged to do so.

Like many in the crowd here Saturday night, Coheb-Taguri and her husband, 52-year-old Yossi Taguri, credited Trump for doing what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to do: broker a deal that would bring back the hostages.

“We are not our government. Bibi’s interest and our interests are not aligned,” Taguri said, employing Netanyahu’s nickname.

Critics accuse Netanyahu of extending the war and succumbing to the demands of extremist ministers in his government’s coalition so as to remain in power.

A woman reacts while listening to speeches by family members of hostages still held by Hamas during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel.

(Chris McGrath / Getty Images)

Taguri expected Netanyahu would find some way to sabotage the deal once more.

“How many times have we been in this situation, where everyone agrees and then something happens?” he said. “He will find a way to blow it up.”

In a video statement released Saturday evening, Netanyahu said that he hoped to announce the return of all hostages “in the coming days” and that the Israeli military would maintain ‘“control of all of the dominant areas deep inside the strip” during the first phase of the agreement.

He insisted his scorched-earth strategy in Gaza — which has killed more than 67,000 people, health authorities in the enclave say, and left Gaza a lunar-esque landscape of rubble — brought about the change in Hamas’ position.

Hamas had agreed to a number of previous proposals to end the war, including a ceasefire that took hold in January, but which Israel unilaterally broke in March.

Netanyahu said he hoped negotiations to finalize the deal would be completed soon. After the hostage handover, he said, “Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized.”

“This will happen either through the diplomatic path by the Trump plan or through the military path — at our hands,” he added.

People chant slogans and hold signs in support of hostages still held by Hamas.

(Chris McGrath / Getty Images)

Hamas has said it will only disarm in the context of handing over its weapons to a Palestinian state. It did not directly address the stipulation to disarm in Trump’s proposal.

In a post to his social media site Saturday, Trump said, “Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off” and he would “not tolerate delay.”

He also thanked Israel for what he said was a temporary stoppage of its bombing campaign to give the deal a chance. Israel did not stop bombing: Palestinian health authorities said at least 67 people were killed in Israeli attacks since dawn Saturday. Israeli media reported the military had been told to shift to defensive operations.

At the rally, thousands took part in call-and-response chants they have memorized over the last two years of the war.

“Bring them back!” shouted Omer Shem Tov, a hostage freed in a previous prisoner exchange with Hamas. The crowd responded with a loud “Now!”

Another speaker, actor Lior Ashkenazi, began by thanking Trump.

Standing among the crowd, Dor Jaliff, a 35-year-old social worker, nodded at the mention of Trump. Though he didn’t count himself a Trump supporter (“I’m not going to run around with a U.S. flag or stuff like that,” he said), he said he nevertheless appreciated the U.S. president’s impact.

“I wish our government would consider the hostages as the top priority like Trump does. Look, I’m not happy Trump is getting involved in Israel’s affairs, but at least someone is doing the job,” he said.

As to whether the deal would go through, he said he was trying to remain hopeful.

“It’s a need to be optimistic. I want to feel optimistic,” he said.

Also in the crowd, with his wife and son in tow, was 57-year-old Mindy Rabinowitz. On his chest, he wore a sticker with the number 729 — the number of days since the war began.

A head of a college, Rabinowitz had made it a ritual to come to Hostage Square at least once a month, but often more than that. Yet before the ceasefire announcement on Friday, he wasn’t sure he would come this week. But when he heard that Hamas accepted the deal late Friday night, he thought differently.

“I turned to my wife and said, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t stay home and watch this on TV. We should go,’” he said.

“Maybe it’s the last time we’ll be in that square.”