The pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to agree a ceasefire deal and bring home surviving captives from Gaza is rising.
A general strike has disrupted industry, services and education across parts of Israel as demands for the government to agree a ceasefire deal and bring remaining captives home from Gaza grow.
Monday’s general strike, called by the country’s largest labour union Histadrut – the first since the start of the war in Gaza in October – was aimed at disrupting sectors of the economy including banking and healthcare, and shutting down the country’s main airport and education institutions.
The action was prompted by the discovery on Sunday of the bodies of six of the 250 or so captives taken by Hamas on October 7. About 100 were released under a truce in November while several have since died.
Huge rallies were held on Sunday calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a ceasefire deal that would bring the remaining captives home. Both Israel and Hamas claim that the other side is blocking an agreement.
US President Joe Biden is reported to be working on what US sources have branded a “final” proposed deal, in another apparent effort to raise the pressure.
‘Moral duty’
Arnon Bar-David from Histadrut, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers, called the strike, which was backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector.
“We must reach a deal,” Bar-David told a news conference on Sunday. “We are getting body bags instead of a deal.”
Reports suggest that the walkout was highly effective in some parts of Israel.
Ben Gurion airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, was closed from 8am (05:00 GMT) by a two-hour walkout. Israeli media has since reported that workers and civil aviation companies have decided to prolong their action.
The Manufacturers Association of Israel said it backed the strike and accused the government of failing in its “moral duty” to bring the captives back alive.
Histadrut said banks, malls, government offices and public transit services joined the strike. Municipalities in the highly-populated central area, including Tel Aviv, were also participating, leading to shortened school hours and cancellations for public daycares and kindergartens.
Many municipalities, however, including Jerusalem, were not participating.
Tamer Qarmout, an associate professor of public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that the protests and strike could have the potential to bring the country to a critical junction, should they grow in number and threaten Netanyahu’s coalition.
“There is anger, there is frustration and there is also the realisation that now we are closer to a year of this war, that the goals that Netanyahu has declared are near impossible to achieve,” he said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of some of those held in Gaza, said the death of the six was the direct result of Netanyahu’s failure to secure a deal to halt the fighting and bring their loved ones home.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday that hundreds of protesters calling for a deal were marching towards the national defence headquarters in Tel Aviv. Protests were also reported in Beersheba in the south and in Haifa in the north.
‘Take it or leave it’
Reports said that following the six deaths – which included an Israeli-US citizen – Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are set to meet with the negotiation team that, alongside officials from Qatar and Egypt, has been moderating talks on a ceasefire deal.
News outlet Axios reported that White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan had told families of US citizens held in Gaza that Biden is preparing a “final proposal” for a ceasefire deal, with Israel and Hamas set to be told to “take it or leave it,” according to The Washington Post.
Qarmout said that the US could use the protests and strike in Israel to try to increase the pressure on the Israeli government.
“We are approaching the US elections now. If the Americans are serious about exercising any leverage on Netanyahu, this could push [him] out of his corner,” he said.