Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand operations in the Gaza Strip, rather than attempt to negotiate an end to the war under which Hamas would free its last hostages.

Organizers said that as many as half a million people attended the main rally at Tel Aviv’s “hostage square” in the evening, a massive turnout by Israeli standards.

Earlier on Sunday, as Netanyahu suggested calls to end the war would embolden Hamas, police scuffled with demonstrators blocking roads across Israel, making at least 30 arrests and turning a water cannon on participants at a sit-down protest at a Jerusalem access tunnel.

Almost two years into an offensive that’s pushed Israel toward global isolation and left much of the Pale

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