JERUSALEM –
Israel’s largest trade union called a general strike for Monday to pressure the government for a ceasefire in Gaza after Israel said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages, including a young Israeli-American man held by Hamas.
The Histadrut represents some 800,000 workers in such areas as health care, transportation and banking, and it said the strike would include the international airport, with all flights halted. The strike is aimed at persuading Israel’s government to reach a deal to bring home the remaining hostages.
This would be the first general strike since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. A general strike last year during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial judicial overhaul helped lead to a temporary delay in the plan.
A new wave of protests was set to begin Sunday evening in Israel, fueled by raw anger and grief. Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for failing to bring them back alive in a deal with Hamas to end the 10-month-old war. Negotiations over such a deal have dragged on for months.
The military said all six hostages had been killed shortly before the arrival of Israeli forces.
Netanyahu said Israel would hold Hamas accountable for killing the hostages in “cold blood,” and blamed the militant group for the stalled negotiations, saying “whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal.”
Militants seized Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, and four of the other hostages at a music festival in southern Israel during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the war.
The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack. In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him alive but with his left hand missing, sparking new protests in Israel urging the government to do more to secure the hostages’ release.
The army identified the other dead hostages as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33; who were also taken from the music festival. The sixth, Carmel Gat, 40, was abducted from the nearby farming community of Be’eri.
It said the bodies were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, around a kilometre (half a mile) from where another hostage, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was rescued alive last week.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesperson, said the army believed there were hostages in the area but had no specific intelligence. He said Israeli forces found the bodies several dozen metres (yards) underground as “ongoing combat” was underway, but that there was no firefight in the tunnel itself.
He said there was no doubt that Hamas had killed them.
Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.
Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a U.S.- backed ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it had agreed to back in July.
Families of hostages call for a ‘complete halt of the country’
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and says military pressure is needed to bring home the hostages.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that he got into a shouting match at a security Cabinet meeting late Thursday with his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who accused him of prioritizing control of a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border — a major sticking point in the talks — over the lives of the hostages. The Cabinet reportedly voted in favor of remaining in the corridor over the objections of Gallant, who said it would prevent a hostage deal.
An Israeli official confirmed the report and said three of the hostages — Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi and Gat — had been slated to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed back in July. The official was not authorized to brief media about the negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“In the name of the state of Israel, I hold their families close to my heart and ask forgiveness,” Gallant said Sunday after the remains were recovered. He later called for the Cabinet to reverse its decision.
A forum of hostage families demanded a “complete halt of the country” to push for the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release.
“A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for over two months. Were it not for the delays, sabotage, and excuses those whose deaths we learned about this morning would likely still be alive,” it said in a statement.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who has met with Goldberg-Polin’s parents, said he was “devastated and outraged.”
“It is as tragic as it is reprehensible,” he said. “Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”
Vice President Kamala Harris said her prayers were with the Goldberg-Polin family and condemned Hamas.
A high-profile campaign
Goldberg-Polin’s parents, U.S.-born immigrants to Israel, became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage. They met with Biden, Pope Francis and others and addressed the United Nations, urging the release of all hostages.
On Aug. 21, his parents addressed a hushed hall at the Democratic National Convention — after sustained applause and chants of “bring him home.”
“This is a political convention. But needing our only son — and all of the cherished hostages — home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” said his father, Jon Polin. His mother, Rachel, who bowed her head during the ovation and touched her chest, said “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive.”
She and her husband sought to keep their son and the others held from being reduced to numbers, describing Hersh as a music and soccer lover and traveler with plans to attend university since his military service had ended.
Some 250 hostages were taken on Oct. 7. Israel now believes that 101 remain in captivity, including 35 who are believed to be dead. More than 100 were freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces.
Two previous Israeli operations to free hostages killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, attacking army bases and several farming communities.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were fighters. It has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and plunged the besieged territory into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
This combination of six undated photos shows hostages, from top left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, from bottom left, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat, who were held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza. (The Hostages Families Forum via AP)
This undated photo shows Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza. On Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, the Hostages Families Forum announced the death of Hersh Goldberg-Polin while in Hamas captivity. (The Hostages Families Forum via AP)
Rachel Goldberg, left, and Jon Polin center, parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, along with other relatives of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group take part in a protest calling for their release in the Kibbutz Nirim, southern Israel, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)