TEL AVIV, August 18. /TASS/. Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv, demanding that the Israeli government conclude an agreement on the release of the hostages, according to the estimates provided by the N12 TV channel and the Ynet portal.

The organizers of the rally in Tel Aviv estimate the number of its participants at half a million people, the police did not provide their own data, the Times of Israel newspaper notes.

According to the newspaper, during the day on Sunday, up to 1 million Israelis took part in various campaigns in support of the hostages and against the expansion of the military operation in the Gaza Strip. The mass rally in Tel Aviv was the end of a one-day "people's strike" that was held on August 17 by associations of relatives of the kidnapped.

According to Ynet, Israeli police arrested 38 people during the day for disturbing public order during various mass demonstrations that took place across Israel. The police press service confirmed that 25 participants in the riots were arrested across the country.

In particular, according to the press service, 11 arrests were made in Tel Aviv on the afternoon of August 17 "in connection with illegal demonstrations" during which "protesters blocked traffic in several places" on the Ayalon Highway and Begin Street in the city center. According to the state broadcaster Kan, the protesters also "periodically blocked" traffic on highways 1, 34 and 443.

The "people's strike" announced by the associations of relatives of the abducted began on August 17 at 06:29 a.m. (03:29 GMT) - the time of the start of the attack by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip on Israel on October 7, 2023, accompanied by the killing of residents of border settlements and the taking of more than 250 hostages. In response, Israel launched a military operation in the enclave with the aim of destroying Hamas' military and political structures and freeing all the abducted.