Sept. 1 (UPI) — Protests drawing at least an estimated 700,000 people took place across Israel on Sunday and strikes are planned for Monday in opposition to the government’s failure for the safe return of hostages after six abductees’ bodies were recovered in Gaza, including that of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Demonstrations were in Tel Aviv, where an estimated 550,000 showed up, as well as Jerusalem, Haifa, Ra’anana, Be’er Sheva, Kfar Saba, Kiryat Bialik, Afula, Ness Ziona, Binyaminap, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum told CNN on Sunday. The nation has 9.6 million people.
The Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Givatayim municipalities have announced that they will join a nationwide strike Monday in support of hostage families. Histadrut Labor Federation chief Arnon Bar-David announced a general strike, including the closure of Ben Gurion International Airport at 8 a.m. local time. And Israeli colleges, including Hebrew University in Jerusalem, will “join the economic shutdown.” And Ben Gurion International Airport.
On Sunday morning, the Israel Defense Forces announced the remains of four men and two women were found Saturday in a tunnel and later identified.
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a briefing they were “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short while before we reached them.”
The bodies were brought to Israel for identification.
Ninety-seven of the 251 hostages abducted remain, including the bodies of 33 hostages confirmed dead by IDF. Hamas released 109 hostages, eight have been rescued by troops alive and the bodies of 37 others have been recovered, including three who were killed by the Israeli military, The Times of Israel reported. Also, 1,200 Israelis died in Hamas’ initial Oct. 7 assault.
In Tel Aviv, organizers marched through the streets carrying coffins and appeared outside the Kirya military headquarters. Organizers described the crowd in Tel Aviv as an “endless sea of protesters” and the largest demonstration since the start of the war.
Protesters blocked several lanes on the Ayalon Highway, with some using smoke canisters, and police responded by firing water cannons with foam and forcibly carrying away demonstrators sitting in the road.
In Jerusalem, protesters demonstrated outside a cabinet meeting.
Protesters blocked roads, demanding an immediate agreement to secure the remaining hostages’ release.
“Look them in the eyes,” one banner read.
A protester at the Bilu Junction in Rehovot said: “We have to stop our routine, to stop the country until the hostages come home.”
The protests are led by Hostages Families Forum with the motto “Bring them home now.” A block lists it has been 331 days since they were abducted.
On Saturday the group declared: “Starting tomorrow, the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. We will stop the country.”
The municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa in Israel will participate in a half-day strike Monday.
“Starting in the morning until noon, there will be no municipal public services and we will allow all employees to go out and support the families’ fight,” Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai said in a post on X Sunday.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to request injunctions to prevent the nationwide strike, saying it would hurt the economy during wartime and set a dangerous precedent.
“These issues are at the core of the authority of the political establishment and they are not the subject of a strike by trade unions and there is no connection between them and labor relations in Israel,” Smotrich said in the letter to the attorney general.
Demonstrations also took place outside the Cabinet meeting Sunday morning in Jerusalem.
During the meeting, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant criticized the Israeli government for prioritizing control of a key border area over a deal to free hostages. According to CNN, he reportedly said: “I was taught that we don’t leave the injured behind in the field. It’s a moral disgrace.”
The Hostage Families Forum demanded that Netanyahu “take responsibility for the thwarting [of a deal]. Take responsibility for the neglect. Take responsibility for the hostages who were murdered in captivity.”
Netanyahu, saying he was shocked to the core by the “the terrible cold-blooded murder of six of our hostages,” blamed Hamas for blocking a deal that would lead to the release of hostages in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning:
“This is a difficult day for us.
Together with all citizens of Israel, I was outraged to the depths of my soul by the horrific, cold-blooded murder of six of our hostages: pic.twitter.com/Fs8qqlhJUm— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 1, 2024
“Three months ago, on May 27, Israel agreed to a hostage release deal with the full backing of the United States,” he said in the taped statement. “Hamas refused. Even after the United States updated the outline of the deal on Aug. 16 — we agreed, and Hamas again refused.”
He added that the Israeli government and he, personally, are “committed to continue working toward a deal that will bring back all our hostages and guarantee our security and existence.”
The prime minister said “Israel is conducting intensive negotiations with the mediators in a supreme effort to reach a deal, Hamas continues to firmly refuse any proposal.”
Netanyahu plans to speak with the victims’ families.
An autopsy concluded that the hostages were killed by short-range shots, a spokesperson for Israel’s health ministry said Sunday.
The IDF won’t yet to state exactly how and when they were killed, Lt. Col Nadav Shoshani, an IDF spokesman, told reporters Sunday.
Identified were Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33, who were abducted with Goldberg-Polin, 23, from a music festival during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Carmel Gat, 40, was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri on a visit to her parents.
Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi and Gat were slated to be released as part of a “humanitarian category,” according to a framework agreed by Israel and Hamas in early July, two Israeli officials have told CNN.
“Our prime minister delayed it,” one of the Israeli officials said. “It’s way too late for the six who have been killed, but it’s time to reach an agreement.”
Lobanov, a 32-year-old father of two, and Yerushalmi, 24, were tending bar at the festival, according to the Hostages Families Forum.
The family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin announced that his funeral will be held Monday at Har Hamenuchot in Jerusalem.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin has worn a piece of tape marking each day that has passed since her son was kidnapped. It hit 332 days Sunday on the Bring Them Home Now website.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday spoke with Rachel Goldberg-Palin and Jonathan Polin “to offer his condolences for the death of their son at the hands of Hamas,” a White House official said.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, also spoke with the parents, according to her post on X.
Biden announced the deaths of six hostages late Saturday from Delaware before confirmation from IDF.
He said he was “devastated and outraged” at the news.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, as he grieved the “senseless death” of the hostages, sought to blame Harris and President Biden for the hostage crisis, and the “terror would have never happened if I were President,” he said.
“Make no mistake — This happened because Comrade Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden are poor Leaders. Americans are getting slaughtered overseas, while Kamala is disparaging and making up lies about Gold Star families, and Biden is sleeping on the beach on this 16th consecutive day of vacation. They have blood on their hands!” the presidential candidate posted on Truth Social on Sunday. “Just like the Debacle of the Afghanistan Withdrawal that claimed 13 American lives, Kamala and Biden’s judgment has not only put lives at risk, but is directly responsible for unnecessary deaths that should have never happened.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza.
“I will never forget my meeting last October with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other hostage families,” Guterres said in a post on X.
“Today’s tragic news is a devastating reminder of the need for the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza,” he added.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said 40,738 Palestinians have been killed.
Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq blamed Israel for the killings, saying the nation was unwilling to reach a deal and the United States had continued to support “the war of genocide” due to the country’s “bias” for Israel.
Hamas urged Palestinians to attack Israelis.
“We are mobilizing all cities, villages, and camps to ignite the fire against the occupation and to block the settlers’ roads by all means. We call on everyone who bears arms to direct their bullets at the chests of the occupiers, who continue to commit massacres against our steadfast people in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.