Israel anti-government protests flare after dismissal of top security agency chief

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday against the decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service and resume fighting in Gaza.

Netanyahu said this week he had lost confidence in Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021, and intended to fire him effective April 10, prompting three days of protests.

Israel's Supreme Court issued an injunction on Friday temporarily freezing the dismissal.

Netanyahu has dismissed accusations the decision was politically motivated, but his critics have accused him of undermining the institutions underpinning Israel's democracy by seeking Bar's removal.

Israel returned to war in Gaza this week, shattering a ceasefire that saw the exchange of hostages being held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and brought respite to the battered enclave.

In Tel Aviv's Habima Square, protesters waved blue and white Israeli flags and called for a deal that would see the release of the remaining Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.

"The most dangerous enemy of Israel is Benjamin Netanyahu," protester Moshe Haaharony, 63, told Reuters. "Benjamin Netanyahu, for 20 years, doesn't care about the country, doesn't care about the citizens."

Since the start of the war, there have also been regular protests by families and supporters of hostages seized by Hamas during the October 7 attack that have sometimes echoed the criticisms of the government.

"We are a year and a half later after we had very fierce fighting in Gaza and Hamas is still in power," protester Erez Berman, 44, told Reuters. "It still has tens of thousands of fighters. So the Israeli government actually failed in getting its own goals out of the war."

With the resumption of Israel's campaign in Gaza, the fate of 59 hostages, as many as 24 of whom are still believed to be alive, remains unclear and protesters said a return to war could see them either killed by their captors or accidentally by Israeli bombardments.

"We're going to do whatever it takes to bring the hostages home," Ophir Falk, Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser, told Reuters.

"Hamas unfortunately understands military pressure, and only military pressure. In November 2023 we got over 80 hostages out for one reason, military pressure... The only reason they went back to the negotiating table was military pressure. And that's what we're doing right now," Falk said.

(Reporting by Emily Rose; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)