Hundreds of thousands of Israeli people have taken to the streets in the capital pushing for more effort to finalize a truce. Following the discovery of six other hostages who had died in Gaza, the biggest labor union in the country has also urged a national strike. There have been reports of altercations between demonstrators and police officers. With the start of the Gaza conflict nearing one year, this Sunday rally was one of the biggest anti-government gatherings in Israel.
Chanting “Now! Now!”, the demonstrators asked that Israeli Prime Minister negotiate a truce with Hamas in order to release the rest of the hostages. Numerous Israeli people protested in front of prime minister’s Jerusalem headquarters and obstructed roadways in the capital.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum claimed in an announcement that the prime minister’s negligence has been the reason behind the six hostages’ deaths. The relatives of the detainees in Gaza are represented by the forum. The families are disappointed saying government was unable to reach an agreement to stop the hostilities and allow their relatives to return home. The forum stated that after enduring over 11 months of maltreatment, suffering, and malnutrition in Hamas custody, they were all killed in the final few days.
Families think that because the prime minister is the head of the Likud Party, which controls the majority of the cabinet, he has a lot of influence and the coalition backs him. As a result, there aren’t many problems within the framework of the governing system. The streets, as such, would serve as the true, and only, obstacle.
The families urged Israelis to put more pressure on their government. “Take to the streets and shut down the country until everyone returns. They can still be saved,” the family of one of the recent victims among the hostages asserted in his social media account.
National Strike
A nationwide strike has been announced by Histadrut, the largest labor union movement in Israel. The purpose of the strike is to put further pressure on the governing body to agree to an end to the fighting.
In an effort to completely block down or interrupt important sections of Israel’s economic performance, such as banking and healthcare, the union announced that Ben Gurion Airport, the country’s primary hub for air travel, would be closed starting early in the morning on Monday.
Histadrut president Arnon Bar-David stated that an agreement is more essential than all other things and that the families are receiving corpse bags rather than an agreement. He claimed to have the support of Israel’s leading high-tech industries and businesspeople. The coalition of some of the most influential figures in Israeli business demonstrated the extent of the public outrage over the perishing of six hostages.
Tel Aviv, the center of the Israeli economy, will also have partial Monday closures for service deliveries. The Israeli Manufacturers Association declared its support for the strike and charged the authorities of not fulfilling its moral responsibility to free the detained individuals. Previous Israeli prime minister and head of the opposing party, Yair Lapid, declared that he stood for the strike.
However, the country’s attorney general has been ordered by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to urgently file a suit with the courts to halt the scheduled statewide strike. Smotrich contended in his written communication that a strike lacked legal standing since it sought to unduly sway lawmakers’ important policy choices regarding matters of national security.
