Nationwide strike erupts across Israel demanding hostage deal, end to Gaza war

Thousands of demonstrators came to the streets of Israel on Sunday, launching a general strike at the national level supported by the families of the hostages taken by Hamas – while demanding an agreement from Cessor to release the captives and put an end to the war in Gaza.

Protesters gathered in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and on the main highways around major Israeli cities, blocking the streets in defiance of the current conflict, which intensified last week after the legislators approved the plans to invade the city of Gaza.

At least 30 demonstrators were arrested on Sunday after flooding the streets, some fire cars and tires on the roads, triggering clashes with the police trying to reopen the arteries, reported the Times of Israel.

The mass strike and the protest were called by the October Council, a group made up of the families of the 251 people who were kidnapped and more than 1,200 killed in October 7, 2023, a terrorist attack on Israel.

The group has repeatedly expressed fears that an expansion of war in Gaza ends the lives of their loved ones after more than 680 days in captivity. Hamas would still hold around fifty hostages in Gaza, of which about 20 would still be alive.

The desperate pleadings of families were responded by hundreds of companies, schools and local authorities, who all announced that they joined the strike directly, either by allowing their employees to take time to protest if they wished.

While Histadrut, the main union of Israel, said that he would not join the strike, the head of the Arnon Bar-David union took the floor during the demonstration of Sunday on the hostage’s place of Tel Aviv with a message of solidarity.

“This is not a problem on the left and right. It is a problem to bring people back, to bring people who have been kidnapped, kidnapped with their bed, kidnapped with their quarter work and their reservoir,” said Bar-David.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday’s demonstrations clearly indicated that the overwhelming majority of people of the Jewish state were retaining war with Hamas to save the remaining hostages.

“There is no Israeli who does not want them to come home,” said Herzog. “We can discuss philosophies, but really, the inhabitants of Israel want our brothers and sisters to be with us.”

Herzog also urged the international community to put pressure on Hamas to conclude a cease-fire contract after peace talks with the terrorist group were revived last week.

While Hamas officials said they are open to resigning as a de facto governors of the Gaza Strip, the terrorist group rejected all the proposals that would disarm without establishing a Palestinian state first.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long reduced all proposals for a solution to two states, saying that recognizing a Hamas would only reward Hamas after the attack on October 7.

Netanyahu reiterated during the weekend that the war will not end before Hamas is completely eradicated and that the Gaza Strip is demilitarized, with the first plan to support the complete occupation of the Palestinian enclave and the exodus of its 2 million refugees.

Regarding the hostages, Netanyahu has repeatedly said that military pressure is the best way to release the hostages – a feeling rejected by the former captive Arbel Yehoud, whose boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, is still detained by Hamas.

“I know with the first hand what it is to be in captivity. I know that military pressure does not bring the hostages – it only kills them on Sunday,” Yehoud told Tel Aviv.

“The only way to bring them back is to make an agreement, at the same time, without games.”