Protestors in Israel escalated their campaign on Sunday, demanding their government make a deal to secure the release of hostages held by militants in Gaza.
The action was organised by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, weeks after militant groups released videos of hostages and Israel signaled plans for a new Gaza offensive, reports AP.
Protesters fear further fighting could endanger the 50 hostages believed to remain in Gaza, only about 20 of whom are thought to be alive.
They chanted, “We don’t win a war over the bodies of hostages” and demanded a deal.
Although Israel’s largest labor union, Histadrut, ultimately did not join Sunday’s action, strikes of this magnitude are relatively rare in Israel. Many businesses and municipalities decided independently to strike.
However, an end to the conflict does not appear near. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the immediate release of the hostages but is balancing competing pressures, haunted by the potential for mutiny within his coalition. Far-right members of his cabinet insist they will not support any deal that allows Hamas to retain power. The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages, they threatened to topple Netanyahu’s government.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the stoppage “a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas’ hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardise its security and future.”
While demonstrators in Israel demanded a ceasefire, Israel began preparing for an invasion of Gaza City and other populated parts of the besieged strip, aimed at destroying Hamas.
The military body that coordinates its humanitarian aid to Gaza said Sunday that the supply of tents to the territory would resume. COGAT said it would allow the United Nations to resume importing tents and shelter equipment into Gaza ahead of plans to forcibly evacuate people from combat zones “for their protection.”
Tents and the majority of assistance has been blocked from entering Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade in March after a ceasefire collapsed. Deliveries have since partially resumed, though aid organisations say the flow is far below what is needed. Some have accused Israel of “weaponising aid” through blockades and rules they say turn humanitarian assistance into a tool of its political and military goals.
Israel’s air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza and displaced most of the population. The United Nations is warning that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began.
The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 61,900 people in Gaza.
