The Secretary General of Israel’s national workers union, the Histadrut, announced a general strike starting Monday morning to protest the Netanyahu government. The strike demands an immediate deal for a hostage release and a ceasefire in Gaza.
According to the BBC, the head of the union, Arnon Bar-David, said that Ben Gurion Airport will be closed from 08:00 local time. The strike itself is planned to start at 06:00 local time and will last for one day. The workers’ union decision came several hours after the IDF announced the recovery of the bodies of six hostages from Rafah in southern Gaza.
The announcement came amid nationwide protests, with thousands of people demanding the return of the hostages and condemning their abandonment. In Jerusalem, protesters gathered outside the security cabinet meeting and blocked the entrance to the city.
The Hostage Family Forum reported that an estimated 300,000 people attended a demonstration in Tel Aviv, calling on the Israeli government to negotiate a deal to secure the return of the 101 remaining captives in Gaza.
In Tel Aviv, massive crowds marched to a main stage outside the Kirya military headquarters, carrying coffins. There, they joined hundreds of thousands of others to hear speeches from hostage families and other speakers, reported NBC News.
Family members of the hostages criticized the government and Prime Minister Netanyahu, including the brother of German-Israeli citizen Ohad Ben Ami. He expressed that he had hope for a deal until he heard the news about the six hostages who were killed, and now he feels “broken.”
The teachers’ union announced it would join the labor union’s strike, stating that schools will only operate until 11:45 a.m. on Monday, except for special education schools, which will remain open as usual. In response, the Education Ministry declared that all teaching staff are required to work as normal.
Israel’s Business Forum, which represents 200 leaders of the country’s largest companies, has joined the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in calling for protests. The forum urged the public not to remain passive in the face of daily loss of life and the abandonment of hostages, who, according to all security bodies, could have been rescued. As a gesture of solidarity with the hostage families, Lev Cinemas announced it would close its theaters starting at 5 p.m. on Sunday, as reported by N12.
The six hostages recovered from Gaza were killed somewhere between Thursday and Friday, a spokesperson from Israel’s health ministry said.
Vice President Kamala Harris, along with her husband Doug Emhoff, spoke with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, she wrote in a post on X. “My heart breaks for their pain and anguish,” Harris wrote. “I told them: As they mourn this terrible loss, they are not alone. Our nation mourns with them.”
