Thousands of people gathered at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square Saturday night for an anti-government protest and memorial ceremony led by bereaved families, calling for a state commission of inquiry into the failures leading to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

The protest, which was accompanied by several other gatherings in cities across Israel, was organized by the October Council, a group of relatives of victims of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack. It took place ahead of Israel’s official Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, which will begin Monday night.

The ceremony was held under the title Yishkach (“forget”), a play on the Yizkor (“remember”) adjuration that is typically read at Memorial Day ceremonies.

At the protest, speakers railed against the government’s failure to hold itself accountable for October 7, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of leading a directionless forever war at the expense of their slain loved ones so he can remain in power.

The speakers, who all ended their speeches with the words “we won’t let you forget,” represented six groups that they accuse the government of abandoning: Members of the armed forces killed defending southern Israel during the October 7 attack; civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets in northern Israel; hostages killed in captivity in Gaza; civilians killed in the Gaza border communities during the October 7 attack; civilians killed in the massacre that day at the Re’im-area rave; and reservists killed in combat.

Each group of representatives laid a laurel wreath on the stage, with a seventh wreath laid for everyone killed in the nearly 1,000 days of conflict since the Hamas onslaught, including reservists who died by suicide.

Laying a wreath for the slain hostages, Ofri Bibas, whose sister-in-law Shiri and young nephews Ariel and Kfir were killed in captivity, addressed Netanyahu, saying: “Prime Minister, a second Holocaust happened to my family. It happened to us.”

Netanyahu, in his Holocaust Remembrance Day speech last week, credited himself with preventing “a second Holocaust” at Iran’s hands.

“After two-and-a-half years of war, the country is not grand,” Bibas told the crowd. “It’s crumbling, and that’s on you.”

“You won’t evade accountability. I won’t forget all those responsible for the massacre and the myriad failures — they’ll be held to account,” she vowed. “Shiri, Ariel and Kfir — We won’t forgive and won’t forget.”

Eyal Eshel, whose daughter, Sgt. Roni Eshel was killed in the IDF’s Nahal Oz base where she served as a surveillance soldier, also spoke: “Why didn’t any of you get up and resign on the morning of October 8?” he asked, addressing Israel’s leaders.

“Why did my Roni, ‘the eyes of the state,’ see everything and nobody listened to her? Why are you still here, when she’s gone?” he asked.

“Roni didn’t die because they didn’t know, Roni died because they didn’t listen.” Eshel said. “If you don’t take responsibility, you are not only responsible for what happened, you are also responsible for what will happen tomorrow.”

“My family, five people, two generations, were murdered while hugging each other,” said Benjamin Kutz, a Kfar Aza resident whose family was killed on October 7.

“The government wants us to move on and forget the magnitude of their neglect and treat the erasure of my family as a glitch,” he added, according to quotes transcribed by Channel 12, calling on the establishment of a state commission to investigate the Hamas-led massacre of his kibbutz and dozens of other Gaza border communities.

Netanyahu has rejected a state commission — Israel’s highest investigative authority — because it is led by the judiciary, which he claims would be biased against him because of his government’s controversial bid to weaken the courts.

Shai Fisher, whose grandmother and uncle, Mira and Barak Ayalon, were killed in a 2024 Hezbollah rocket strike on their home in northern Israel, said she is speaking “for an entire region” as she assailed the ceasefire that US President Donald Trump announced this week in Lebanon.

“We, the people of the north, are strong, faithful and self-sacrificing, but are also abandoned far too often,” she said. “The country that promised us sovereignty and security can’t let its citizens submit to the whims of others and of governments across the border.”

The ceremony ended with “Hatikva,” the national anthem. A few dozen members of the crowd then converged on the square’s southern edge to demand that authorities do more to find Haymanut Kasau, a girl from an immigrant Ethiopian Jewish family who went missing from an absorption center in Safed two years ago.

יום הולדת עצוב. אתמול היה יום הולדתה ה-11 של היימנוט קסאו. Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#336x280_Middle_3")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: '336x280_Middle_3', baseDivId: '336x280_Middle_3', } ]); }); } במקום לחגוג בבית עם משפחה, חברות, עוגה ובלונים – המשפחה שלה עמדה היום בכיכר הבימה, עם תמונות ודמעות וציינה את היום הזה בלעדיה. כבר יותר משנתיים שילדה קטנה פשוט נעלמה כאילו בלעה אותה האדמה. משפחה שלמה חיה כל דקה בתוך… pic.twitter.com/5ZlTRsy2Tv — yayafink (יאיא פינק) (@yayafink) April 18, 2026

אתמול היה יום הולדתה ה-11 של היימנוט קסאו.

במקום לחגוג בבית עם משפחה, חברות, עוגה ובלונים – המשפחה שלה עמדה היום בכיכר הבימה, עם תמונות ודמעות וציינה את היום הזה בלעדיה.

כבר יותר משנתיים שילדה קטנה פשוט נעלמה כאילו בלעה אותה האדמה.

משפחה שלמה חיה כל דקה בתוך… pic.twitter.com/5ZlTRsy2Tv

— yayafink (יאיא פינק) (@yayafink) April 18, 2026

The rally was held to mark her 11th birthday. Attendees hoisted her picture and signs asking top law enforcement officials, “Where is Haymanut,” along with yellow balloons emblazoned with smiles.

Kasau was 9 when she disappeared in the northern city. There has been little to no progress in the case since then.

Kasau’s family, which immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia three years before she went missing, has accused the government of not doing enough to find her.

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State Commission of Inquiry

anti-government protests

October 7 Hamas atrocities

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