Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested, angry at Netanyahu's handling of the hostage crisis
Agency
02/09/2024
A sea of people flooded a main street in Tel Aviv as Israelis expressed their anger at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the hostage crisis. - Reuters photo
TEL AVIV: Described as an "endless sea of demonstrations," the unbridled anger of Israelis translated into massive demonstrations, here, attended by at least 700,000 people on Sunday night, after Israeli troops found the bodies of six hostages killed by Hamas in Gaza.
Benjamin Netanyahu-led Israel's failure to deal with the hostage crisis prompted people to take to the streets to demand a lasting ceasefire deal, while Israeli labor unions called for a strike after the six hostages were found dead.
In the mega anti-government demonstration since the Gaza war broke out almost 11 months ago, there have also been reports of clashes between protesters and security forces.
Protesters chanted “Now! Now!” and demanded that Prime Minister Netanyahu reach a ceasefire with the Palestinian group Hamas to bring home the remaining prisoners.
Hundreds of thousands blocked roads in Tel Aviv and demonstrated outside Netanyahu's office in West Jerusalem.
In a statement, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of captives held in Gaza, said the death of the six hostages was Netanyahu's failure to secure an agreement to end the fighting and bring their loved ones home.
"They were all killed in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture and starvation in Hamas captivity," the forum said.
Gil Dickmann, a cousin of Carmel Gat, whose body was among those returned, urged Israelis to put more pressure on their government.
"Take to the streets and shut down the country until everyone comes back. They can still be saved," Dickmann wrote in X.
Gideon Levy, a columnist for Israel's Haaretz newspaper, told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu has defended a right-wing party in his government that opposes any concessions to Hamas.
"They don't care about hostages," he said.
Levy asserted, in the Likud political party which is also the largest group in the government, Netanyahu is very powerful and the party supports Netanyahu who leads it.
"Therefore the challenge from within the government is very limited. The real challenge, just maybe, is the street, but it's still too early to judge," stressed Levy
Trade unions called for a general strike
Meanwhile, in its first action since October 7 last year, Israel's largest trade union, the Histadrut, called for a general strike to pressure the government into signing a ceasefire agreement.
The union said Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main air transport hub, will be closed from 8am (local time) on Monday in a bid to shut down or disrupt key sectors of the Israeli economy including banking and healthcare.
"The (ceasefire) agreement is more important than anything else. We got a bag of dead bodies, not an agreement," said Histadrut head Arnon Bar-David.
Bar-David's call was also supported by Israel's leading manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector.
The unanimous coalition of some of the most powerful organizations in the Israeli economy reflects the scale of public anger over the deaths of the six captives.
Municipal services in Israel's economic hub Tel Aviv will also partially shut down operations on Monday.
The Israel Manufacturers Association supported the strike and accused the government of failing in its "moral duty" to rehabilitate the prisoners.
"Without getting the hostages back, we will not be able to end the war, we will not be able to restore ourselves as a society and we will not be able to restore the Israeli economy," said the head of the association, Ron Tomer.
In the same development, the Leader of the Israeli opposition and former Prime Minister, Yair Lapid also announced his support for organizing the massive strike.
Meanwhile Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to submit an urgent order from the court to block the planned strike across Israel.
In his letter, Smotrich argued, the strike has no legal basis because it aims to improperly influence important policy decisions of politicians on issues related to Israel's security.
He also said the massive strike would cripple Israel including affecting outbound flights - having a significant economic impact that would cause unnecessary economic damage in wartime.
Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have dragged on for months and many blame Netanyahu for failing to reach an agreement.
The Israeli army has killed at least 40,738 people and wounded 94,154 in its war on Gaza since October 7.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the attack led by Hamas while around 250 people were captured by the group.
The Israeli army has acknowledged the difficulty of rescuing the dozens of remaining captives and said only a deal could bring mass returns. - Agency
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