Israelis wave flags in front of a banner showing Ehud Goldawasser, right, and Eldad Regev, left, who were captured by Hezbollah, and Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Palestinian militants in Gaza. They were among tens of thousands of protesters who streamed to a central Tel Aviv square after sundown Thursday, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert because of a scathing report about the way he ordered and handled last summer's bloody, costly but inconclusive war in Lebanon.

Tel Aviv, Israel ? Tens of thousands of Israelis rallied after sundown Thursday in a Tel Aviv square, demanding Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resign because of a government inquiry’s scathing criticism of his handling of the inconclusive war in Lebanon.

Olmert remained defiant, hoping to beat back a wave of calls for him to step down. A day after his popular foreign minister joined the chorus, Olmert’s aides argued it was not a mortal political blow, but conceded a large-scale public protest campaign could bring him down.

Turnout on the square in front of Tel Aviv’s City Hall appeared to top 100,000, but police refused to estimate the crowd’s size.

The rally drew a cross-section of Israelis – moderates and hard-liners, secular and religious, young and old, a rare mix symbolizing the widespread dissatisfaction with Olmert.

On a warm, muggy night, the crowd was well-behaved, and hundreds of police stationed around the square had nothing to do. Demonstrators carried signs reading “Elections now” and “Olmert, go home.” A small group held aloft a mock black coffin labeled “Government, RIP.”

“Failures, Go Home!” read a banner erected behind the podium, referring to Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, a lesser target of the war inquiry’s criticism. Parents of soldiers killed in last summer’s conflict spoke to the crowd from the podium.

Organizers decided not to let politicians speak at the rally, said retired Gen. Uzi Dayan. “There are no politicians here, but this is a political event,” he said.

Moshe Muskal, 50, whose son Rafnael was killed in the war, was among parents who addressed the gathering. “I am glad that the public is not passive or despairing,” he told The Associated Press afterward. He said the soldiers “fulfilled their mission fully. Our mission is to make our country a little bit better.”

The protesters came from all over Israel, including 35 who walked 45 miles from the southern town of Sderot, a frequent target of rockets fired by Palestinians in Gaza.

Edan Mehallel, 16, of the port city of Haifa, said he lived through the Hezbollah rocket attacks during the war and came to make a difference. “The more people there are, the more influence the demonstration will have,” he said.

Ariela Kaszovitz, who moved to Israel 17 years ago from New York, demonstrated with her husband and four children. She said Olmert made too many mistakes. “Let someone else run the government,” she said.

Israel went to war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon on July 12 after guerrillas crossed into Israel, killing three soldiers and capturing two.

For many Israelis, the 34-day war was a failure because it didn’t achieve Olmert’s two main goals: returning the soldiers and crushing Hezbollah, which fired nearly 4,000 rockets at Israel. The conflict killed 158 Israelis and more than 1,000 Lebanese.

A commission appointed by Olmert to investigate the war accused the premier of “hasty” decision-making, failing to consult others and neglecting to assess the chances that his goals could be accomplished.