Israeli institutions and cities witnessed a national strike on Monday, following the deaths of six Israeli hostages in Gaza, amid growing public anger and widespread condemnation of the performance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in dealing with the hostages file.
The Israeli Federation of Trade Unions “Histadrut” announced the organization of a comprehensive strike in all economic facilities in Israel starting on Monday, following the announcement of the occupation army to retrieve the bodies of the six prisoners in Gaza.
For its part, the Israeli Labor Court issued a decision to end the strike, which aims to pressure the Netanyahu government to return the Israeli detainees in Gaza after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich asked the Attorney General to submit an urgent request to the court regarding this, on the pretext that the strike is politically motivated and not a demand.
Following the Labor Court’s decision, Smotrich said in a statement: “The court accepted our position, and decided that the Histadrut strike was political and illegal.” He continued: “It is not possible to harm the Israeli economy and serve the interests of Sinwar and Hamas.”
Histadrut Chairperson Arnon Ben David ordered the strike to be ended and for work to resume, saying, “We are in a state of law and we will respect the court’s decision. I call on all workers to return to work and end the strike at 2:30. The strike is an important step and I stand behind it and bear responsibility.”
Also on Monday, US President Joe Biden said that reaching an agreement to release the hostages held by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza was very close. However, Biden stressed that he does not believe that the Israeli Prime Minister is doing enough to ensure such an agreement is reached.
In the meantime, Egypt reaffirmed its categorical rejection of any Israeli presence in the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt borders and Rafah border crossing.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post quoted US officials as saying that Washington plans to present a final agreement proposal to the parties in the coming weeks, and is consulting with Doha and Cairo on the features of a final ceasefire agreement and that the failure of the two parties to accept a final agreement that Washington intends to present could mean the end of the US-led negotiations.
In its latest statistics, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the Israeli occupation forces committed 3 massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip during the past twenty-four hours, resulting in 48 deaths and 70 injured arriving at hospitals, raising the toll from the Israeli aggression on Gaza since 7 October to 40,786 deaths and 94,224 injured.
