Eleanor Beardsley

The announcement came as Israelis demonstrated against Benjamin Netanyahu in central Tel Aviv.

One of the protesters, 55-year-old Danny Cohen, says it's a real dilemma.

Cohen says he doesn't know what will happen, but he trusts the U.S.

government more than his own.

Eleanor Beardsley in PR News, Tel Aviv.

The footage shows the soldier striking the statue's head with a sledgehammer.

The military confirmed the video and said it has removed the combat soldier and sentenced him to 30 days of military detention.

The incident occurred as the Israeli army moved into southern Lebanon to rout out Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the soldier's actions unacceptable and said Israel deeply regrets the incident.

But left-leaning newspaper Haaretz accused Israeli leaders of condemning the kind of behavior that they themselves have fostered.

It said the statue got more sympathy than Palestinians in Israel.

Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the French soldier's death, which he said appeared to be caused by fire from Hezbollah.

The Iran-backed militant group denies any responsibility.

The Israeli military says a soldier was killed when his engineering vehicle ran over a bomb.

Meanwhile, polls show most Israelis oppose the ceasefire, which comes as they believe their army was making progress in routing the group.

56-year-old Gabriel Levy is a taxi driver in Tel Aviv.

We stop in the middle to finish the work.

Levy also supports pursuing military operations against Iran to finish with the regime, he says, even if it means more missiles on Israel.

Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Tel Aviv.