The largest labor union in Israel claims that thousands of people participated in the nationwide strike it organized to put pressure on the government to reach an agreement with Hamas on a truce in Gaza and the release of hostages.
After a court declared that the Histadrut strike was primarily political and ordering everyone to return to work, businesses, schools, and transportation were all affected.
In addition, thousands participated in new demonstrations organized by the relatives of the hostages to voice their dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inability to free their loved ones after over 11 months.
Following the discovery of the six hostages’ deaths on Saturday, there has been a heightened level of tension. Israel said that Hamas had fired and murdered them.
Many argue that Mr. Netanyahu is obstructing a deal in order to put his own political survival first, a charge he denies.
In order to undermine his chances of remaining in office, his far-right friends have threatened to leave the coalition government if he accepts a settlement that requires a long-term peace before Hamas is destroyed.
In reaction to the massive onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in around 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages, the Israeli military began a campaign to eliminate Hamas.
Since then, the health ministry in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas, has reported over 40,780 deaths in the region.
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Mediators from the US, Egypt, and Qatar are attempting to mediate a cease-fire agreement that would see Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons exchanged for the 97 hostages that Hamas is currently holding, 33 of whom are thought to be dead.
US President Joe Biden responded, “No,” when reporters in Washington questioned him about whether he believed Mr. Netanyahu was going far enough to reach an accord.
After meeting with US mediators, he stated he was “very close” to giving Israel and Hamas what the US media had described as a final plan.
The countrywide strike started at 6:00 local time (03:00 GMT), and Histadrut spokesperson Peter Lerner told the BBC on Monday morning that it had affected both the public and commercial sectors of the Israeli economy.
He said that ports were “slowing their activity,” that suitcases were “piling up at Ben Gurion International Airport,” and that some communities were taking part.
Although Israeli media reported that departures were halted for two hours in the morning, a spokesman for Ben Gurion Airport claimed that operations were proceeding “as usual”.
The adjacent city of Tel Aviv also had sporadic indications of the strike. Numerous people were walking about the streets and cafés, the most of the businesses and restaurants seemed to be open, and some busses were operating.
Nearly all of the local bars and restaurants closed on Sunday night in support of the protests, but they have already reopened, a café employee told the BBC. She murmured, “I disagree with the decision.” “We ought to have shut down.”
“I don’t agree with the strike,” a different woman said as she picked up a street scooter. We need to live; we cannot halt everything, even though we want the hostages back.
Subsequent to the government’s request for an injunction, the Tel Aviv Labour Court decided that the strike must terminate at 11:30 GMT on April 30. The court ruled that the strike was mostly political and lacked any economic justification.
Arnon Bar-David, the chairman of Histadrut, said he supported the strike while still respecting the decision.
“Hundreds of thousands of citizens voted with their feet, despite attempts to paint this solidarity in political colors,” the speaker declared.
“We have demonstrated that the hostages’ fate is a matter of life or death, and we will not permit lives to be abandoned. It is neither a right-wing or left-wing issue.
Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Finance Minister, claimed that Israelis had demonstrated their independence from “political needs” by going to work “in droves.”
Speaking about the leader of the Palestinian armed group, “We won’t allow harm to the Israeli economy and thereby serve the interests of [Yahya] Sinwar and Hamas,” he declared.
Members of the Gevurah Forum, which opposes the proposed hostage arrangement and speaks for the families of soldiers killed in action, demonstrated against the strike outside the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem. As reported by the Times of Israel, they chanted, “Shutting down the economy is a prize for Hamas.”
“Today, we have power in the government, and I’m not ashamed to say that we’re using this power to prevent a reckless deal and to stop any negotiations altogether,” far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security, declared to the assembly.
Meanwhile, the captives and Missing Families Forum, which speaks for some of the families of the captives, demanded new protests in order to press for an expedient resolution.
Thousands of demonstrators reportedly flocked to the streets in different cities, according to Israeli media.
Huge crowds stopped a central Tel Aviv highway, and in what has come to be known as Hostages’ Square, six yellow wreaths bearing the word “sorry” were also placed.
According to the captives Families Forum, it’s a message to the captives Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sgt Ori Danino, whose remains were discovered by Israeli forces on Saturday in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.
All six were “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them,” according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
According to the Israeli health ministry, post mortem exams revealed that they had been shot and killed by “several close-range gunshots” and had died between 48 and 72 hours before they were discovered, or between Thursday and Friday morning.
Hamas denies such accusation, claiming that Israeli soldiers killed the hostages.
Several relatives said that Mr. Netanyahu had blood on his hands after the dead were found.
Chants of “murderer” were heard during Sunday night’s largest protests in Israel since the war’s beginning, which drew hundreds of thousands of participants from all over the nation. “Alive, alive, we want them alive,” other people chanted.
Although most of the rallies were nonviolent, demonstrators in Tel Aviv managed to scale police barriers and shut down a busy roadway. Police claimed that 29 persons had been taken into custody.
“We have asked the citizens of Israel to join us on the streets for months,” said Sharone Lifschitz, whose father Oded, 84, is one of the hostages still held, to the BBC. Now they are out on the streets with us. This is a really amazing breakthrough.
“I want the Israeli government to do the right thing and find a way to bring these people home, to finish and reach a ceasefire, and to look beyond the narrow interests of their own political parties and their own survival.” We are aware of our limited time,” she remarked.
In a video statement on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu restated that Israeli negotiators had reached a hostage release agreement at the end of May, which Hamas had rejected.
He said, “Hamas is continuing to steadfastly reject all proposals, despite Israel having been holding intense negotiations with the mediator in an ultimate effort to reach a deal in recent days.” Even worse, it killed six of our hostages at that precise moment. Whoever kills hostages is not interested in making a bargain.
Hamas attributed the captive murders to Israel and the US, claiming that they had made further demands for a settlement, among them the permanent Israeli occupation of the vital Philadelphi corridor, a slender buffer zone that hugs Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the Hamas political bureau, stated, “The occupation army, Netanyahu, and his extremist government are the reason why these people lost their lives. The six hostages and others could have been released to their families as part of a real exchange deal while they were alive.”
