Much of the economy, airport, public transportation will shut down on Monday morning.
By JNS
The Histadrut labor federation, which represents some 800,000 Israeli trade unionists, on Sunday declared a general strike set to commence at 6 a.m. on Monday, shutting down large sectors of the economy to pressure the government to reach a hostages-for-ceasefire-and-terrorists-release deal with Hamas.
Pharmacies, hospitals, defense plants, food plants and special education will apparently continue to function.
As part of the one-day strike, Ben-Gurion International Airport will cease take-offs and landings at 8 a.m. Public transportation will also be affected.
The Histadrut’s decision came after its chairman Arnon Bar–David met with the families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, 331 days after the terrorist group’s cross-border massacre.
Earlier on Sunday, left-wing politicians blamed the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Hamas’s murder of six captives whose bodies were recovered over the weekend, with opposition leader Yair Lapid calling for a general strike.
“Netanyahu and the ‘death cabinet’ decided not to rescue the hostages,” Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party stated, urging the Histadrut, employers and local authorities to “shut down the economy. You can’t go on like this.”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, backed by the Israel Business Forum, earlier on Sunday called for a strike to protest the lack of a deal to free the abductees. The Israel Business Forum represents private-sector employees from 200 of the country’s biggest companies.
The hostages whose bodies were recovered in an underground tunnel in Rafah in southern Gaza overnight Saturday were identified as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Almog Sarusi, 25, Alexander Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Master Sgt. Ori Danino, 25.
Their deaths reduce the number of hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip to 101, with many believed to be no longer alive. A total of 251 people were kidnapped during the Hamas-led invasion on Oct. 7.