“We must stop the abandonment of the hostages... I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken,” said Histadrut chairman Arnon bar David in a statement on Sunday.
“Starting tomorrow at six in the morning, the entire Israeli economy will go on complete strike.”
As part of the strike “all take-offs and landings at Ben Gurion airport will stop from 8:00 am (0500 GMT),” David said.
“We need to reach a deal, a deal that is more important than anything else,” he said.
“A deal is not progressing due to political considerations and this is unacceptable.”
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military announced it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in Gaza, sparking anger and grief among families of hostages.
“The tragic murder of Hersh, just months after we all saw his face in a hostage video released by Hamas, is nothing short of vicious and senseless,” the families said in a joint statement released Sunday. “It is more proof that Hamas is killing hostages in captivity. And it is a cruel reminder that with each passing day, the chances of bringing anyone home alive are at grave risk. For the last 331 days, we warned that this could happen. Enough is enough.”
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces criticism over not finalizing a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, the families demanded that he reach an agreement.
“We demand Prime Minister Netanyahu close the deal with Hamas and bring the hostages home to their loved ones. It’s well past time to bring all the hostages home. Sagui, Omer, Edan, and Keith need to come home now. We need to bring Judy, Gadi, and Itay home and lay them to rest. For the 101 remaining hostages and their families, this nightmare needs to end,” they wrote.
US official to speak with families: Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, will meet virtually Sunday with family members of Americans still held hostage in Gaza, a US official told CNN.
Sullivan has met several times previously in person and virtually with the families
The municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa in Israel will participate in a half-day strike on Monday, in solidarity with the hostages and their families following the recovery of the bodies of six hostages killed in Gaza.
Protesters across Israel have called for a general strike to apply pressure to the government to secure a hostage deal.
“Eden, Carmel, Hersh, Ori, Almog and Alex should have been at home now. Alive,” Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai said in a post on X Sunday referring to the hostages, and urging people to “take to the streets.”
“Tomorrow, starting in the morning until noon, there will be no municipal public services and we will allow all employees to go out and support the families’ fight,” Huldai said.
Despite weekly, sometimes daily, protests in Tel Aviv’s renamed Hostages Square and in other cities across Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not been moved to do what multiple opinion polls show a majority of Israelis favor. This is, namely, making the return of the more than 100 hostages held in Gaza (around one-third of whom are believed to be dead) his top priority.
Netanyahu has long said he has three overriding goals in the war with Hamas. One specific red line, though, has now emerged: the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a 14 kilometer-long (8.7 mile) strip of land separating Gaza from Egypt. Netanyahu is insisting on Israeli troops remaining there to prevent weapons-smuggling to Hamas, clashing on Thursday with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
This in itself infuriated many families of hostages. Learning that the bodies of their loved ones were discovered “shortly” before Israeli troops got to them on Saturday angered them more. News that at least three of them were slated to be released in the first phase of a mooted ceasefire deal has left them apoplectic and heartbroken.
So what now? Despite all the optimistic pronouncements of US President Joe Biden and others, a hostage-ceasefire deal remains elusive.
Netanyahu is no doubt mindful that his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he does any deal. Yet after nine months of on-off talks, many people are concluding that Netanyahu doesn’t want one.
And that neither, for that matter, does the architect of October 7 attacks, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who, perhaps in a tunnel near to where six young Israelis’ lifeless bodies were discovered on Saturday, sees the regional war he hoped to spark that day getting closer to becoming a reality.
Israeli police search the area where a vehicle opened fire to an Israeli police car and killed 3 policemen at Tarqumiyah district of Hebron, West Bank on September 1.
Israeli police search the area where a vehicle opened fire to an Israeli police car and killed 3 policemen at Tarqumiyah district of Hebron, West Bank on September 1. Anadolu via Getty Images
Three Israeli police officers were killed in a shooting in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, according to Israeli police spokesperson Dean Elsdunne.
A man and a woman, both in their 30s, were killed in the shooting, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service said in a statement. The third person, a man approximately 50 years old, was critically injured and transported to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to MDA.
One of the police officers killed has been identified as Roni Shakuri, whose daughter – also a police officer – was killed on October 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, the Sderot municipality said.
Police said the three killed on Sunday were shot from a passing vehicle while traveling along a highway near Tarqumiyah. The Israeli military said “terrorists arrived at the area” of the junction and fired at a vehicle, prompting a search by security forces for the attackers.
“Numerous police and IDF (Israel Defense Forces) forces quickly arrived at the scene and initiated extensive searches for the terrorists, who fled the area,” the police said.=
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Hamas said that it was a “heroic” operation and “a natural response to the heinous massacres and genocide in the Gaza Strip and the Zionist crimes in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem” in a statement Sunday.
