Israel bans protesters from carrying images of Gaza's dead children

Israeli police are blocking protesters from holding the images of killed children in Gaza, as well as posters with accusations that Israel is carrying out a genocide, at any upcoming demonstrations.

A police document sent on Sunday to Israeli-Palestinian group Standing Together, which frequently protests against Israel's war on Gaza, said that demonstrators cannot display signs, posters, or flags that "incite to violent or illegal activity", Haaretz reported.

The document further stated that participants are not allowed to display "hostage signs", a reference to posters with the images of Israeli captives, or signs with the word 'genocide', the publication added.

Standing Together said that "the police's actions show that this is political," while accusing them of "censoring messages in protests against the war and the government."

"Since Netanyahu chose to collapse the ceasefire deal in order to allow Ben-Gvir to return to the coalition, the release of the hostages from Hamas captivity has been halted, and many Palestinian children have died," the group added, in quotes carried by Haaretz.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who controls Israel's police force, resigned from the government earlier in the year to protest a ceasefire in Gaza that saw a pause to the war and the release of Israeli captives.

The latest development comes amid increased protests in Israel and against the government, with scores of people accusing Netanyahu of putting his political career and agenda before freeing captives held in Gaza. 

Police restrictions on protests

Issues over police restrictions and the removal of signs at protests have arisen at various points during Israel's war on Gaza.

Last year, Israel's police were told not to confiscate protest signs by its own legal council after doing so at various protests, leading to a petition being filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel to the high court against the move.

The petition was dismissed by the court on the grounds that the police were told not to confiscate signs.

According to Haaretz, police action against protesters has continued despite mounting criticism, with police assaulting protesters holding signs in Haifa and Jerusalem last week.

Israeli police have also placed other limitations, including on film screenings, which are seen as an alleged risk to public safety. In one example, police closed the office of the Israeli political party Hadash in Haifa for attempting to screen a documentary on the occupied West Bank.