Nationwide strike and Biden criticism increase pressure on Netanyahu amid hostage crisis

AFP | Jerusalem

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Pressure mounted yesterday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a major strike was held and US President Joe Biden said he was not doing enough to secure the release of Gaza hostages, following the killing of six captives.

Israelis were gripped by grief and fury after the military said Sunday the bodies of six hostages, all captured alive during Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war, were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza.

A strike announced by the main trade union seeking a deal to secure the remaining captives’ release had brought parts of the country to a standstill, although some cities were largely unaffected.

But an Israeli court yesterday ordered an immediate end to the strike called by the Histadrut union, calling it “politically motivated”.

The labour court ruling came after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich -- a far-right leader who opposes a truce in the Gaza war -- called on the court to move to ban the strike.

The union is authorised to call strikes only for economic reasons and workers’ rights, not over political issues.

Alongside the surging domestic anger, diplomatic pressure has also grown, with the US president yesterday delivering some of his strongest criticism of Netanyahu.

Asked by reporters if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough on the issue, Biden responded: “No.”

The US president was meeting with his negotiators who said they were “very close” to a final proposal to be presented to Israel and Hamas.

At mass rallies late Sunday, hostages’ relatives called for a truce deal to help free the dozens still captive. ‘Abandonment of hostages’ Histadrut called a nationwide strike beginning at 6:00 am (0300 GMT) yesterday “for the return” of the remaining 97 hostages, including 33 the military says are dead. Tel Aviv and the northern coastal city of Haifa heeded the strike call.

However, Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv was operating “as usual”, a spokeswoman told AFP, despite takeoffs being halted for two hours.

In Jerusalem and some other cities, life appeared to go on as usual. Some private firms partly suspended operations in support of the strike.