Large crowds of protesters gathered in several cities across Israel on Saturday, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government make the return of hostages in Gaza their top priority.

In Tel Aviv, people protested outside the Israeli army headquarters, blocking traffic and chanting anti-government slogans.

Eran Nissan, a peace activist from the progressive Israeli group Mehazkim, has been attending anti-government rallies since January last year. On Saturday he handed out T-shirts and stickers with derogatory messages about Israel’s far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Nissan said an agreement on a hostage ceasefire was the central demand of the protests. “The hostage issue is the first, second and third priority,” he told CNN, adding that he believed the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday provided an opportunity to finally reach an agreement.

“There is a strong majority and consensus on this in Israeli society. 105 hostages have (already) been returned in a deal,” he said, referring to the week-long ceasefire and hostage exchange that took place last November.

There are still 101 hostages held in Gaza, Israeli authorities say, but a third of them are believed to be dead.

He added that he believed the current government had an interest in prolonging the war.

“They know that once the war is over, they will have to answer questions about how they were complicit in bringing the October 7 terror attack to Israel, and that there will be a national investigation, and a demand for elections. And every poll you see now shows they’re going to be hit hard,” he said.

Saturday’s large-scale protests were among the first in Israel since the government banned large gatherings over security concerns after Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack, which Iran says was a response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.