"Gates of hell opening in Gaza"

 Israeli leaders repeat their threats saying that the "Gates of hell opening in Gaza". Defense Minister Israel Katz said on September 5, 2025, on the social platform X that the “gates of hell are opening now” in Gaza—and that they wouldn’t close until Hamas accepted Israel’s conditions for ending the war, particularly the release of hostages and disarmament. He was repeating an earlier statement that he said July 28, 2025, when he warned that if Hamas didn’t release hostages, the "gates of hell will open in Gaza."  The same rhetoric resurfaced in August 2025, when he again threatened that the gates of hell may open unless Hamas agreed to a cease-fire, release hostages, and disarm. 

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, too, used the same language on February 16, 2025, during remarks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Netanyahu declared that the "gates of hell" would open in Gaza unless Hamas returned all the hostages. 

As of early September 2025, Israel is intensifying its military offensive to take full control of Gaza City, a campaign that began in August 2025. An Israeli military spokesperson stated that forces control 40% of the city. 

As the war intensifies, more voices of protest in the US are emerging. Reports of US military veterans being arrested or removed from Capitol Hill for protesting US policy related to the conflict in Gaza have appeared in news sources.  Here are some of the reported events:

US Veterans arrested for protesting Gaza war

Senate hearing disruption (September 4, 2025): Two US military veterans, retired Green Beret Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Aguilar and former Army intelligence officer Josephine Guilbeau, were removed and handcuffed after interrupting a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. The two accused the lawmakers of complicity in genocide in Gaza.

FBI arrest of army veteran (September 3, 2025): The FBI arrested former US Army sergeant Bajun "Baji" Mavalwalla II for "conspiracy to impede or injure officers" after he was involved in a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While not specifically a Gaza protest, some see the charges as a test case for prosecuting dissent under the Trump administration.

Capitol Hill sit-in (July 24, 2024): In a large protest organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, approximately 200 demonstrators were arrested in the Cannon House Office Building after a sit-in against the war in Gaza. It is not specified how many, if any, were veterans. 

Conscientious objector applications (June 23, 2024): Two active members of the US Air Force, Larry Hebert and Juan Bettancourt, have sought to become conscientious objectors due to Washington's support for the Israeli military.

Active-duty hunger strike (January 16, 2025): Senior Airman Larry Hebert went on a hunger strike outside the White House during authorized leave to protest the starvation in Gaza. He was called back to base after nine days.

Aaron Bushnell (February 26, 2024): An active-duty airman, Aaron Bushnell, self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., in protest of the war in Gaza. 

Under military rules, active-duty service members can protest off-duty and out of uniform. However, there are limits on participating in political activities, especially in uniform or on base. 

US army veterans Anthony Aguilar and Josephine Guilbeau were forcibly removed and arrested for disrupting a Senate hearing after denouncing US complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Aguilar, a retired Green Beret and whistleblower who worked as a security guard at US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution sites in Gaza, has exposed Israeli abuses at the sites.