By JOSEF FEDERMAN and MELANIE LIDMAN | Associated Press
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Tens of thousands of grieving and angry Israelis took to the streets Sunday night after the bodies of six more hostages were found in Gaza, chanting “Now! Now!” and demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a cease-fire with Hamas to repatriate the remaining prisoners.
The mass demonstration appeared to be the largest of its kind in 11 months of war, and protesters said it represented a possible turning point, even though the country is deeply divided.
Israel’s main trade union, the Histadrut, has pressured the government by calling a general strike on Monday, the first since the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war. The aim is to shut down or disrupt major sectors of the economy, including banks, health care and the country’s main airport.
Ceasefire negotiations have dragged on for months. Many criticize Netanyahu for failing to reach an agreement, even though polls show a majority of Israelis support one. But the prime minister also has strong support for his strategy of “total victory” against Hamas, even if a deal on hostages will have to wait.
Thousands of people, some in tears, gathered outside Mr Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem on Sunday night. In Tel Aviv, relatives of hostages marched with coffins to symbolise the death toll.
“We really believe that the government is making these decisions for its own safety and not for the lives of the hostages, and we have to tell them: ‘Stop!'” said Tel Aviv resident Shlomit Hacohen.
Three of the six hostages found dead – including an Israeli-American – were due to be released in the first phase of a proposed ceasefire discussed in July, adding to the sense of anger and frustration among protesters.
“There’s nothing worse than knowing they could have been saved,” Dana Loutaly said. “Sometimes it takes something that terrible to shake people up and get them out on the streets.”
The military said the six hostages were killed shortly before Israeli forces arrived. “Whoever kills hostages does not want a deal,” Netanyahu said, blaming the militant group Hamas for the deadlock in negotiations.
One of the hostages was Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, from Berkeley, California, who lost part of his left arm in the attack. In April, a video released by Hamas showed him alive, sparking renewed protests in Israel.
The military identified the others as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.
The Israeli Health Ministry said autopsies determined the hostages were shot at close range and died Thursday or Friday. The army said the bodies were found in a tunnel in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, about 800 meters from where another hostage was rescued alive last week.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Israeli forces found the bodies dozens of meters underground as “fighting continued,” but that there was no exchange of fire in the tunnel itself. He added that there was no doubt that Hamas had killed them.
Hamas has offered to release the hostages in exchange for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including prominent activists.
Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it accepted in July.
The funeral began, with even more outrage. Sarusi’s body was wrapped in an Israeli flag. “You were abandoned over and over, day after day, hour after hour, for 331 days,” said his mother, Nira. “You and so many beautiful, pure souls.”
Divisions in Israel and within the government
Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is destroyed.
Security officials believe that the intense pressure on Hamas has created favorable conditions for a ceasefire agreement. The army, noting the difficulty of the rescue operations, has acknowledged that an agreement is the only way to safely repatriate a large number of hostages.
But some critics accuse the prime minister of prioritising his own interests over those of the hostages. The end of the war should lead to an inquiry into his government’s failures in the October 7 attacks, its collapse and the holding of early elections.
Some analysts believe the public outcry over the deaths of the six hostages could signal a new level of political pressure on Netanyahu.
“I think this is an earthquake. This is not just another step in the war,” Nomi Bar-Yaacov, a research associate at Chatham House’s International Security Program, said shortly before Sunday’s protests.
Divisions within the government have also been exposed, with senior military and security officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, warning that time is running out.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu got into an altercation during a security cabinet meeting Thursday with Gallant, who accused him of prioritizing control of a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border – a major sticking point in the negotiations – over the lives of the hostages.
An Israeli official confirmed the reports and said three of the hostages – Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi and Gat – were to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire deal discussed in July. The official was not authorized to brief the media on the negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“On behalf of the State of Israel, I hold their families close to my heart and ask for their forgiveness,” Gallant said Sunday. The Cabinet was meeting Sunday evening.
A forum of hostage families has demanded a “complete shutdown of the country” to achieve a ceasefire and the release of the hostages.
Even a massive wave of anger would not immediately threaten Netanyahu or his far-right government. He still holds a majority in parliament. But he has bowed to popular pressure before. A general strike last year helped delay his controversial judicial reform.
A highly publicized campaign for a family
Goldberg-Polin’s parents, American-born immigrants who settled in Israel, have become perhaps the most high-profile hostage relatives on the international stage. They have met with U.S. President Joe Biden and Pope Francis, and on Aug. 21, they spoke at the Democratic National Convention to loud applause and shouts of “bring him home.”
Biden said Sunday he was “devastated and outraged.” The White House said he had spoken to Goldberg-Polin’s parents and offered his condolences.
Some 250 hostages were taken on October 7. Israel now estimates that 101 of them remain in captivity, 35 of whom are believed to be dead. More than 100 were freed in a ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight of them were rescued by Israeli forces. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who had escaped from captivity in December.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during their invasion of southern Israel on October 7. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who did not specify how many were militants.
On Sunday, an Israeli strike hit a car on a road in southern Gaza, killing four Palestinians, according to officials at the Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and an AP journalist who counted the bodies.
The war has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and plunged the besieged territory into a humanitarian catastrophe.
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Associated Press journalists Samy Magdy in Cairo, Danica Kirka in London and Darlene Superville in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, contributed to this report.
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