A nationwide strike aimed at ramping up pressure on Israel’s government to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza was set to begin Monday.
The call by Israel’s largest union to paralyse the economy follows a night of massive demonstrations, with tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets in an outpouring of grief and fury over six hostages killed in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli soldiers recovered the bodies of the six “from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area” of southern Gaza on Saturday, the military said.
Relatives and demonstrators accused the government of not doing enough to bring them back alive, and called for an immediate ceasefire to rescue the dozens still captive.
“We must stop the abandonment of the hostages… I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken,” said Histadrut union chair Arnon Bar-David.
“Starting tomorrow (Monday) at six in the morning, the entire Israeli economy will go on complete strike.”
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, 97 remain captive in Gaza, including 33 the army says are dead.
Scores were released during a one-week truce in November, with campaigners and family members believing another deal is the best option to ensure the rest return.
“We are asking our government to stop everything and to make a deal,” Yair Keshet, uncle of hostage Yarden Bibas, said during Sunday night’s protest in Tel Aviv.
Critics have accused Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war for political gain.
“Were it not for the delays, sabotage and excuses” in months of mediation efforts, the six hostages “would likely still be alive”, campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
Six killed hostages
During protests that convulsed Tel Aviv Sunday night, demonstrators marched past six symbolic coffins draped with the Israeli flag and carried pictures of the deceased hostages.
A handful of protesters clashed with police while some burned tyres on a blocked highway where they defied water cannon.
The six hostages were identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino, US-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Russian-Israeli Alexander Lobanov.
Military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said all six “were abducted alive on the morning of October 7” claiming murdered by Hamas militants.
Qatar-based Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said they were “killed by Zionist (Israeli) bombing”, an accusation Israeli military denied.
Israeli health ministry spokesperson Shira Solomon claimed before autopsies that the hostages were “murdered by Hamas with several close-range gunshots.”
A senior Hamas official told AFP on condition of anonymity that “some” of the six had been “approved” for release in a potential hostage-prisoner swap under a deal yet to be agreed.
“This is not how imagined it would end, Eden, my love,” Yerushalmi’s mother tearfully told mourners at a funeral in the central city of Petah Tikva. “I wanted so bad to have you back alive.”
US President Joe Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” by the hostages’ deaths, but “still optimistic” about sealing a ceasefire deal.
The Biden administration has been leading mediation efforts along with Qatar and Egypt.
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