‘Not in our name’: Fury grows in Israel over Netanyahu’s defiant bid to ‘finish the job’ in Gaza
Israelis want peace. Israelis want to get out of Gaza. This is not in our name – we are not our government. Israel must be stopped.
These are the desperate pleas of Yotam Cohen, whose younger brother Nimrod, a then 19-year-old Israeli soldier serving mandatory service, was taken captive to Gaza by Hamas militants during their deadly 7 October attack on southern Israel nearly two years ago.
This weekend, Yotam joined tens of thousands of people who marched on Israel’s military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Wielding portraits of their loved ones and banners, they urged world leaders to intervene. They protested against Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial plan to expand the devastating 22-month bombardment of Gaza, a plan he defended on Sunday, vowing in a press conference to “finish the job… finish Hamas”.
At the mass protest, some family members even called on soldiers to refuse to serve in the expanded fighting, and for the opposition to call a general strike. It follows waves of rallies across the country by Israelis calling on their government to return to the negotiating table.
“Israel must be stopped. The Israeli government has to be stopped. Hamas must be pressured to achieve a deal. But the main problem right now is the Israeli government,” Yotam says bluntly.
The decision to expand the war was pushed through the security cabinet last week, despite fierce resistance from Israel’s chief of staff Eyal Zamir and numerous former security and intelligence officials.
It will see Israeli forces, that according to the United Nations effectively hold more than 85 per cent of the strip, push into the last corners of the tiny enclave, starting with Gaza City, with the intent of taking full “security control”.
It is a move many in Israel fear will not only embroil the Israeli military in a costly, protracted, and unwinnable conflict, but also serve as a “death sentence” for the 20 remaining hostages – like Nimrod – who are still believed to be alive. It could also crush the hopes of retrieving the bodies of around 30 more slain captives who remain in the hands of the militants.
Some of the families told The Independent they are also deeply concerned about the humanitarian impact on Palestinian civilians, as the death toll from the bombardment surges past 61,000, according to local officials, and famine unfolds amid fighting and under an Israeli blockade.
“As an Israeli… First of all, we are not our government. Israelis want peace. Israelis want to get out of Gaza. Israelis do not support what is happening right now in Gaza,” Yotam says, with a quiet determination in his voice.
“It is our government – our so-called elected officials – who right now in our name, with the power we gave them democratically, who are using that power to commit atrocities: to kill Israeli soldiers, to kill Israeli hostages, to kill Palestinian civilians. This is not in our name.”
The desperation was echoed by Shay Dickmann, who says her family suffered the deadly consequences of a ceasefire deal collapsing and Israel choosing military pressure over negotiations.
In November 2023, Dickmann’s cousin Carmel Gat, 41 – an occupational therapist from Tel Aviv – was next on the list of hostages to be freed, but the truce collapsed the very day she was meant to be released.
She and five others were later shot dead by Hamas militants in a tunnel as Israeli forces advanced into Rafah in August 2024. The family say they believe she was alive just 48 hours before Israeli soldiers reached her.
