A day after the bodies of six hostages were discovered in the Gaza Strip, a major strike led by the Israeli Histadrut trade union began on Monday to protest the government’s failure to end the conflict.
Many cities and towns joined the protest, while others refused to participate because they are more aligned with the right-wing, religious government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Contrary to what had been announced, air traffic at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv was largely normal.
On Sunday, Histadrut said it planned to bring the country to a standstill by calling for a one-day general strike. The aim is to increase pressure on Netanyahu to agree to a deal to release the remaining hostages.
In many cities, kindergartens, banks and government buildings remained closed, and public transport was also affected.
On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people demanded an immediate agreement with the militant Palestinian organization Hamas in the largest mass protests since the war in Gaza began nearly 11 months ago.
“We cannot stand by and watch,” the Ynetnews website quoted Histadrut leader Arnon Ben-David as saying on Sunday. “That Jews are being murdered in the tunnels of Gaza is unacceptable. We have to make a deal (with Hamas), a deal is more important than anything.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Sunday that troops had recovered the bodies of six hostages from an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, who the army said had been killed by Hamas militants shortly before.
The four men and two women were abducted during the Hamas-led terrorist attack in southern Israel on October 7, the Israeli military said.
However, a Hamas spokesman said the hostages were killed by an Israeli bombardment.
