Israelis are demanding a ceasefire deal.
Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and beyond to express their anger and frustration over Prime Minister Netanyahu’s failure to agree upon a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Arnon Bar-David, the chairman of Histadrut, Israel’s largest labor union, called for a nationwide general strike from 6 am on Monday after what he described as a “charged and difficult” meeting with representatives of hostage families in Tel Aviv.
“We don’t stop receiving body bags,” he said. “I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken. A deal is not progressing due to political considerations, and this is unacceptable.”
Bar-David called for the “entire Israeli economy” to be shut down. Schools, government offices, and private businesses all closed for much of the day, and the international airport, Ben Gurion, reportedly halted departures and arrivals for two hours from 8 am local time.
Six hostages discovered dead in Gaza’s tunnels
The nation’s outrage was fueled by the discovery of the bodies of six Israeli hostages in Gaza’s tunnels, which the IDF retrieved over the weekend. The victims, who have been identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sgt Ori Danino, appeared to have been shot not long before the Israeli soldiers arrived.
An IDF spokesman said they had been “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them.” A Hamas official insisted that Israel was to blame for its refusal to agree to a ceasefire deal.
More than 100 hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead, are still being held by Hamas. For months, their families and many other Israelis have demanded a cessation of hostilities to bring them safely home. On Monday, a spokesperson from Hamas’ military wing revealed that the group has been operating under different instructions regarding hostages since an Israeli rescue operation in June. (He did not elaborate as to what those instructions are.) According to Palestinian officials, more than 200 people were killed during the action.
“Netanyahu’s insistence to free prisoners through military pressure, instead of sealing a deal, means they will be returned to their families in shrouds. Their families must choose whether they want them dead or alive,” Abu Ubaida said.
Protests sweep Israel
Protesters marched on government buildings and held up roads across Israel’s cities yesterday. According to CNN, some lit fires and chanted “You are the leader – you are guilty!” outside one of Netanyahu’s homes in Caesarea.
Netanyahu remained defiant. Speaking to the press, he asked for “forgiveness” from the hostages’ families for failing to bring them home, but quashed the idea of a ceasefire, asking: “Slay hostages and you’ll get concessions?” He promised that Hamas would pay a “heavy price” for their deaths.
Nimrod Goren, a senior fellow for Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute, told NBC News that the deaths of the six hostages “really reflected the deepest fears that were around this hostage crisis, knowing that they were alive just a few days ago and that military pressure did not manage to bring them home.”
Stern words from President Biden
President Biden was pressed by reporters on the White House lawn yesterday to confirm whether Prime Minister Netanyahu had done enough to rescue the hostages in Gaza. He replied, simply, “no.”
According to the New York Times, the White House is weighing another “final draft” of a ceasefire deal to present in the coming days. Speaking after a meeting in the Situation Room, President Biden told reporters “We’re in the middle of negotiations,” adding “we’re still in negotiations — not with him [Netanyahu], but with my colleagues from Qatar and Egypt.”
