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Israel’s Growing Frustration over the War in Gaza Explodes in Nationwide Protests

Israeli police officers work to extinguish burning tires set on fire by protesters on the main road connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, 17 August 2025. (EPA)
Israeli police officers work to extinguish burning tires set on fire by protesters on the main road connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, 17 August 2025. (EPA)
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Israel’s Growing Frustration over the War in Gaza Explodes in Nationwide Protests

Israeli police officers work to extinguish burning tires set on fire by protesters on the main road connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, 17 August 2025. (EPA)
Israeli police officers work to extinguish burning tires set on fire by protesters on the main road connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, 17 August 2025. (EPA)

Israeli police blasted crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests on Sunday as thousands of protesters demanding a deal to free hostages in Gaza aimed to shut down the country with a one-day strike that blocked roads and closed businesses. 

Groups representing families of hostages organized the demonstrations as frustration grows in Israel over plans for a new military offensive in some of Gaza's most populated areas, which many fear could further endanger the remaining hostages. Fifty hostages remain, and 20 of them are believed to still be alive. 

"We don’t win a war over the bodies of hostages," protesters chanted in one of the largest and fiercest protests in 22 months of war. Even some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs now call for a deal to end the fighting. 

Protesters gathered at dozens of places including outside politicians’ homes, military headquarters and on major highways. They blocked lanes and lit bonfires. Some restaurants and theaters closed in solidarity. Police said they arrested 38 people. 

"The only way to bring (hostages) back is through a deal, all at once, without games," former hostage Arbel Yehoud said at a demonstration in Tel Aviv. Her boyfriend Ariel Cunio is still being held by Hamas. 

One protester carried a photo of an emaciated Palestinian child from Gaza. Such images were once rare at Israeli demonstrations but now appear more often as outrage grows over conditions there for civilians after more than 250 malnutrition-related deaths. 

An end to the conflict does not seem near. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is balancing competing pressures including the potential for mutiny within his coalition. 

"Those who today call for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’ position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will be repeated," Netanyahu said, referencing the Hamas-led attack in 2023 that killed some 1,200 people and sparked the war. 

The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages earlier this year, far-right members of his cabinet threatened to topple Netanyahu's government. 

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the demonstrations "a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas’ hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future." 

The new offensive would require the call-up of thousands of reservists, another concern for many Israelis. 

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World

Japan PM Takaichi Reappointed Following Election

Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
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Japan PM Takaichi Reappointed Following Election

Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON

Japan's lower house formally reappointed Sanae Takaichi as prime minister on Wednesday, 10 days after her historic landslide election victory.

Takaichi, 64, became Japan's first woman premier in October and won a two-thirds majority for her party in the snap lower house elections on February 8.

She has pledged to bolster Japan's defenses to protect its territory and waters, likely further straining relations with Beijing, and to boost the flagging economy.

Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.

China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious.

Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that forces in Japan were seeking to "revive militarism".

In a policy speech expected for Friday, Takaichi will pledge to update Japan's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" strategic framework, local media reported.

"Compared with when FOIP was first proposed, the international situation and security environment surrounding Japan have become significantly more severe," chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara said Monday.

In practice this will likely mean strengthening supply chains and promoting free trade through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) that Britain joined in 2024.

Takaichi's government also plans to pass legislation to establish a National Intelligence Agency and to begin concrete discussions towards an anti-espionage law, the reports said.

Takaichi has promised too to tighten rules surrounding immigration, even though Asia's number two economy is struggling with labor shortages and a falling population.

On Friday Takaichi will repeat her campaign pledge to suspend consumption tax on food for two years in order to ease inflationary pressures on households, local media said, according to AFP.

This promise has exacerbated market worries about Japan's colossal debt, with yields on long-dated government bonds hitting record highs last month.

Rahul Anand, the International Monetary Fund chief of mission in Japan, said Wednesday that debt interest payments would double between 2025 and 2031.

"Removing the consumption tax (on food) would weaken the tax revenue base, since the consumption tax is an important way to raise revenues without creating distortions in the economy," Anand said.

To ease such concerns, Takaichi will on Friday repeat her mantra of having a "responsible, proactive" fiscal policy and set a target on reducing government debt, the reports said.

She will also announce the creation of a cross-party "national council" to discuss taxation and how to fund ageing Japan's ballooning social security bill.

But Takaichi's first order of business will be obtaining approval for Japan's budget for the fiscal year beginning on April 1 after the process was delayed by the election.

The ruling coalition also wants to pass legislation that will outlaw destroying the Japanese flag, according to the media reports.

It wants too to accelerate debate on changing the constitution and on revising the imperial family's rules to ease a looming succession crisis.

Takaichi and many within her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) oppose making it possible for a woman to become emperor, but rules could be changed to "adopt" new male members.

World

Türkiye: Ocalan Announces ‘Integration Phase’

Members of the Kurdish community take part in a protest calling for the release of convicted Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)
Members of the Kurdish community take part in a protest calling for the release of convicted Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)
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Türkiye: Ocalan Announces ‘Integration Phase’

Members of the Kurdish community take part in a protest calling for the release of convicted Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)
Members of the Kurdish community take part in a protest calling for the release of convicted Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Ilyas AKENGIN / AFP)

The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, Abdullah Ocalan, has said that the Ankara-PKK peace process has entered its “second phase,” as the Turkish parliament sets the stage to vote on a draft report proposing legal reforms tied to peace efforts.

A delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), including lawmakers Pervin Buldan, Mithat Sancar, and Ocalan’s lawyer Ozgur Faik, met with the jailed PKK leader on Monday on the secluded Imrali island.

Sancar said that the second phase will be focused on democratic integration into
Türkiye’s political system.

According to the lawmaker, the PKK leader considered the first phase the “negative dimension” concerned with ending the decades-old conflict between the armed group and Ankara.

“Now we are facing the positive phase,” Ocalan said, “the integration phase is the positive phase; it is the phase of construction.”

For the second phase to be implemented, Ocalan called on Turkish authorities to provide conditions that would allow him to put his “theoretical and practical capacity” to work.

The 60-page draft report on peace with the PKK was completed by a five-member writing team, which is chaired by Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, and is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday.

The report is organized into seven sections.

In July last year, Ocalan said the group's armed struggle against Türkiye has ended and called for a full shift to democratic politics.

World

Iranians Chant Slogans Against Supreme Leader at Memorials for Slain Protesters

An Iranian man holds the Iranian national flag during a memorial ceremony for those killed in anti-government protests earlier last month, at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, 17 February 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian man holds the Iranian national flag during a memorial ceremony for those killed in anti-government protests earlier last month, at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, 17 February 2026. (EPA)
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Iranians Chant Slogans Against Supreme Leader at Memorials for Slain Protesters

An Iranian man holds the Iranian national flag during a memorial ceremony for those killed in anti-government protests earlier last month, at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, 17 February 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian man holds the Iranian national flag during a memorial ceremony for those killed in anti-government protests earlier last month, at the Mosalla mosque in Tehran, Iran, 17 February 2026. (EPA)

Iranians shouted slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Tuesday as they gathered to commemorate protesters killed in a crackdown on nationwide demonstrations that rights groups said left thousands dead, according to videos verified by AFP.

The country's clerical authorities also staged a commemoration in the capital Tehran to mark the 40th day since the deaths at the peak of the protests on January 8 and 9.

Officials acknowledge more than 3,000 people died during the unrest, but attribute the violence to "terrorist acts", while rights groups say many more thousands of people were killed, shot dead by security forces in a violent crackdown.

The protests, sparked by anger over the rising cost of living before exploding in size and anti-government fervor, subsided after the crackdown, but in recent days Iranians have chanted slogans from the relative safety of homes and rooftops at night.

On Tuesday, videos verified by AFP showed crowds gathering at memorials for some of those killed again shouting slogans against the theocratic government in place since the 1979 revolution.

In videos geolocated by AFP shared on social media, a crowd in Abadan in western Iran holds up flowers and commemorative photos of a young man as they shout "death to Khamenei" and "long live the shah", in support of the ousted monarchy.

Another video from the same city shows people running in panic from the sounds of shots, though it wasn't immediately clear if they were from live fire.

In the northeastern city of Mashhad a crowd in the street chanted, "One person killed, thousands have his back", another verified video showed.

Gatherings also took place in other parts of the country, according to videos shared by rights groups.

- Official commemorations -

At the government-organized memorial in Tehran crowds carried Iranian flags and portraits of those killed as nationalist songs played and chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" echoed through the Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attended a similar event at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.

Authorities have accused sworn enemies the United States and Israel of fueling "foreign-instigated riots", saying they hijacked peaceful protests with killings and vandalism.

Senior officials, including First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and Revolutionary Guards commander Esmail Qaani, attended the ceremony.

"Those who supported rioters and terrorists are criminals and will face the consequences," Qaani said, according to Tasnim news agency.

International organizations have said evidence shows Iranian security forces targeted protesters with live fire under the cover of an internet blackout.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the vast majority protesters, though rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher.

More than 53,500 people have been arrested in the ongoing crackdown, HRANA added, with rights groups warning protesters could face execution.

Tuesday's gatherings coincided with a second round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States in Geneva, amid heightened tensions after Washington deployed an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East following Iran's crackdown on the protests.