Jerusalem: Thousands of primary schools and several municipalities, transport networks and hospitals slowed or suspended operations across Israel on Monday as a partial labor strike to protest the government's war strategy in the Gaza Strip laid bare the bitter schism among Israelis over their leaders' reluctance to agree to a cease-fire with Hamas.
Union leaders agreed to halt the strike at 2:30 pm local time (7:30 am Eastern), more than eight hours after it began, after a court said they had not given enough notice for the work stoppage to go ahead. Still, the strike and mass protests Sunday were the broadest expressions of anti-government dissent since the war began, as union chiefs and business leaders joined forces to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a truce in Gaza that could facilitate the release of dozens of hostages still held there.
The strike came a day after the Israeli military announced that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza, the latest captives to be found dead nearly 11 months after their abductions in the Hamas-led attacks that touched off the war.
Disruptions were widespread, even as the strike's effects appeared to be limited in some sectors. Many schools and banks and some municipal offices closed or cut services. Departing flights were disrupted as workers went on strike at Ben-Gurion International Airport, the nation's largest, while stevedores stopped unloading merchant ships. And medical staff at several hospitals cut back some nonurgent services.
But many municipalities continued work as normal, according to the representative body for local authorities, and some transport services returned by the afternoon. Some workers appeared reluctant to engage in a complete strike, while others rejected the premise of the strike altogether.
Here are the latest developments:
National fury
The brief work stoppage reflected the national outpouring of grief, anger and protest after the bodies of the six hostages were recovered in Gaza over the weekend. Advocates for the hostages and critics of Netanyahu argued that a cease-fire agreement could have saved their lives. Huge street protests across Israel erupted Sunday night in which hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, according to organizers, called for a hostage release and a cease-fire.
Netanyahu's calculations
The last strike on this scale, in March 2023, succeeded in forcing Israel's prime minister to halt his deeply contentious effort to overhaul Israel's judicial system. But his coalition partners generally oppose a compromise with Hamas, and Netanyahu has refused to agree to a truce that would involve Israel's withdrawal from Gaza or lead to a permanent halt to the fighting, saying that either move could allow Hamas to survive and endanger Israel's long-term security. Hamas has also refused to compromise, saying that it will not release more hostages without a permanent cease-fire.
Cease-fire talks
The Biden administration has mounted diplomatic pressure to break a deadlock in the negotiations involving Israel, Hamas and Egyptian and Qatari mediators. President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris were scheduled to meet at the White House on Monday morning with the team representing the United States in the talks.
Hostages killed
The Israeli military said Sunday that the six bodies found in Gaza were those of hostages who had been "brutally murdered" by Hamas. The Israeli Health Ministry later said that a forensic examination showed the hostages had been shot at close range. Hamas claimed, without providing evidence, that the hostages had been killed by the Israeli military. A funeral for one of hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli American dual citizen whose parents were among the most prominent campaigners for their release, was set for Monday in Jerusalem.
Polio in Gaza
Polio vaccinations continued for a second day in Gaza, after the Gaza Health Ministry said more than 72,600 children had been vaccinated Sunday in the central part of the territory. (United Nations agencies gave a higher figure, saying that nearly 87,000 had received the vaccine.) After Gaza last month recorded its first polio case in 25 years, Israeli forces and Hamas agreed to brief pauses in fighting to allow for a staggered, three-phase vaccination drive.