Strike movement in Israel to demand agreement on hostages

A strike movement began Monday in Israel at the call by the powerful Histadrut trade union to increase pressure on the government to obtain the release of hostages held in Gaza, in the wake of demonstrations that will continue after egrave;s the death of six of them.

This mobilization comes after the announcement Sunday by the Israeli army of the discovery of the bodies of six hostages in the Gaza Strip, the scene of a devastating war that has pitted Israel against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for almost eleven months.

The Histadrut trade union center called for a “general strike” following massive demonstrations in several Israeli cities to demand an agreement on the release of the hostages.

Several municipalities announced on Monday that they would observe the strike, including those of Tel Aviv and Haifa where schools and colleges are closed until 11:45 a.m. Others such as Jerusalem and Ashkelon are not participating in the walkout.

Public transport, managed by private companies, is partially affected by the strike.

At Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, dozens of passengers waited at check-in counters in the morning, after some flights were delayed, according to images from AFPTV.

“Everything is going as usual, except that there are no take-offs from 08:00 (05:00 GMT) to 10:00,” an airport spokesperson told AFP.

For months, mediators — Qatar, Egypt, the United States — have been trying to convince Hamas and Israel to reach an agreement for a ceasefire with an exchange of Palestinian hostages and prisoners held by Israel, but without success so far.

The American president, Joe Biden, who had said he was “devastated” after the discovery of the bodies of the hostages, including the Israeli-American Goldberg-Polin, is to meet Monday with the American negotiators to discuss “efforts to reach an agreement that will ensure the release of the remaining hostages,” according to the White House.

– “Point Blank” –

Relatives of slain Israeli hostage Almog Seroussi kneel at his grave in Raanana, Israel, on September 1, 2024 © AFP – Oren ZIV

During the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel that sparked war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 251 people were kidnapped: 97 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 declared dead by the army.

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The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

Under increasing pressure to reach an agreement on the hostages after months of deadlock, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened again on Sunday to “settle the score” with Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist movement, like the United States and the European Union.

According to the Israeli Ministry of Health, the autopsy carried out on the bodies of the six hostages revealed that they were killed “at point-blank range” “between Thursday and Friday morning”.

But according to a Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, they were “killed by gunfire and bombardment from the Israeli “occupier”, some of them being part of “the list of hostages to be released that Hamas had approved”.

– Anti-polio vaccination –

Israeli retaliation for the October 7 attack has left at least 40,738 dead in Gaza, according to Hamas's health ministry, causing a humanitarian and health disaster and the displacement of almost all of the 2.4 million inhabitants. According to the UN, the majority of the dead are women and minors.

A health worker administers the polio vaccine to a child in Zawayda, in the central Gaza Strip, on September 1, 2024 © AFP – Eyad BABA

On Sunday, the center of the besieged Palestinian territory enjoyed a few hours of respite, as a vast anti-polio campaign was officially launched in three-day “humanitarian pauses” from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Objective: to vaccinate more than 640,000 children under the age of ten, after the first confirmed case of the disease in the Palestinian territory in 25 years.

According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, 72,611 children were vaccinated on the first day of the anti-polio campaign.

Israel is also continuing its military operation launched Wednesday in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory separated from the Gaza Strip and occupied by Israel since 1967.

At least 24 Palestinians, mainly fighters, have been killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank since Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. All “terrorists,” according to the army.

Hamas, in power since 2007 in Gaza, and Islamic Jihad, another armed group, said that at least 14 of the dead were fighting in their ranks.

In the southern West Bank, three Israeli police officers, including a woman, were killed Sunday near a crossing point in an “armed attack,” according to the Israeli police. A Palestinian suspected of being the perpetrator was shot dead by the army, it said.

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