GAZA STRIP: Following the soldiers’ discovery of six prisoners’ dead in the Gaza Strip, the biggest Israeli union issued an order on Sunday for a national strike across the country.
According to the military, the bodies of the six were found on Saturday “in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area” in southern Gaza.
They were among the 251 hostages taken during the Oct. 7 raid on Israel by Hamas; 33 of them are believed to be dead, and 97 of them are still detained. During a negotiated one-week truce in November, scores were released, but the families of those who are still detained feel that not enough is being done to set them free.
There is an immediate need for a negotiated “deal for the return of the prisoners,” according to the group Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
The six convicts “would probably still be alive” if it weren’t for the months of mediation attempts’ “delays, sabotage, and excuses,” according to a statement.
To compel the government to cut a settlement in order to guarantee the release of the remaining detainees, the families called for a countrywide strike across the country.
Not long after, the leader of the influential Histadrut labor union in Israel issued a call for a “complete strike” on Monday in support of the detainees. Hamas rejects the death of detainees.
Histadrut chairman Arnon bar David stated in a statement, “I have concluded that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken.”
“There will be a complete strike on the Israeli economy starting tomorrow at six a.m.”
The six detainees were identified as Russian-Israeli Alexander Lobanov, US-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, US-Israeli Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino, and Carmel Gat, who was taken from a kibbutz community close to the Gaza border.
The military refuted the claim made by Hamas spokesman Izzat al-Rishq that the six were “killed by Zionist (Israeli) bombing.”
In a possible hostage-prisoner swap, “some” of the six had been “approved” for release, according to a senior Hamas official, as part of an agreement that has not yet been finalized.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under fire in Israel from those who believe he is extending the aggression for political purposes.
