Israel's trade unions declare general strike for Monday amid hostage killings

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The head of Israel's powerful Histadrut trade union on Sunday declared a general strike over the government's failure to secure the release of hostages from Gaza, after meeting with their families.

Histadrut Labor Federation head Arnon Bar-David said a one-day strike would take place from 6am on Monday and called all civilian workers to take part.

“We must stop the abandonment of the hostages … I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken,” he said.

“Starting tomorrow at six in the morning, the entire Israeli economy will go on complete strike.”

Israel's Ben Gurion Airport will be closed for take-off and landings from 8am, the country's Trade Union Federation said, and schools would only open until 11.45am. Nurseries would be closed all day, the Teachers Union, a branch of Histarut, said.

If it goes ahead, the strike will be the first since the October 7 attacks by Hamas, in which about 1,200 people were killed and kidnapped 251 more from southern Israel. Israel says 101 hostages remain unaccounted for after its military recovered the bodies of six of its citizens on Sunday. More than 40,700 have been killed in Gaza in retaliatory operations by Israeli forces.

The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino have been returned to Israel after being shot shortly before the Israeli military could reach them, military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure to reach a deal with Hamas to secure the release of the remaining hostages. “Whoever murders hostages – does not want a deal,” he said on Sunday. Hamas has blamed Israel for refusing to sign a ceasefire deal.

Histradut represents more than 800,000 workers in sectors including health, transport and banking. It joined opposition leader Yair Lapid and several Israeli municipalities in calling for strike action, including Israel’s major city of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai said his municipality will strike from Monday morning until noon, with no public meetings held and workers encouraged to join hostage rallies. “Eden, Carmel, Hersh, Uri, Almog and Alex should have been home by now. Alive. The Israeli government abandoned them, but the State of Israel is us,” he wrote on X.

Kfar Saba and Gi’vayatim have also announced municipal strikes, while businesses across Israel have launched independent shutdowns in support of hostage families. Doctors at Tel Aviv’s Sheba Hospital will also strike, heeding calls for pressure from the Hostages and Families Forum, which will hold major protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Sunday.

“As doctors and health professionals, our first and fundamental duty is to protect, preserve and save human life. Therefore, we are responding to the Families Forum appeal in which we express our support for their [hostages] release,” read a statement from medical workers.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich asked the country's attorney general on Sunday evening to submit an urgent request to courts to block the planned strike.

In his letter to Gali Baharav-Miara, Mr Smotrich argued that a strike had no legal basis since it aimed to improperly influence significant policy decisions of politicians on issues related to state security.

He also said that a broad strike – which would shut the country including outgoing flights – has significant economic consequences which would cause unnecessary economic damage in wartime.

Meanwhile, thousands attended the funeral of Alex Lobanov, 32, one of Sunday's murdered hostages, at the New Cemetery in Ashqelon.

The agreement to strike came as thousands took to the streets to protest the handling of the war in Gaza and call to bring the hostages home. The Hostages and Families' Forum asked the public to “join a massive demonstration, demanding a complete halt of the country and the immediate implementation of a deal” with Hamas.

Tens of thousands of grieving and angry Israelis surged into the streets Sunday night, chanting “Now! Now!” as they demanded that Mr Netanyahu reach a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the remaining captives home.

Thousands of people, some of them weeping, gathered Sunday night outside Mr Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem. In Tel Aviv, hostages' relatives marched with coffins to symbolise the death toll.

“We really think that the government is making these decisions for its own conservation and not for the lives of the hostages, and we need to tell them, ‘Stop,’” said Shlomit Hacohen, a Tel Aviv resident.

Three of the six hostages found dead were reportedly scheduled to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July.

“Nothing is worse than knowing that they could have been saved,” said Dana Loutaly. “Sometimes it takes something so awful to shake people up and get them out into the streets.”

Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.

Izzat Al Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a US-backed ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it had agreed to in July.