Gaza War: Protest strike in Israel – airport operations largely normal

After the bodies of six hostages were found in the Gaza Strip, a major protest strike began in Israel. Many cities and municipalities joined the protest, others refused because they are more closely aligned with the right-wing religious government of Benjamin Netanyahu. Contrary to what was announced, air traffic at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv was largely normal.

The trade union umbrella organization announced on Sunday that it wanted to bring the country to a standstill for a day. The goal is to increase the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal to release the remaining hostages. In many cities, kindergartens, banks and government offices remained closed. Public transport was also affected. Already on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people had demanded an immediate agreement with the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas in the largest mass protests since the start of the Gaza war almost eleven months ago.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wanted to prevent the general strike by issuing an injunction, arguing that it was a “political strike”. Like the right-wing extremist police minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Smotrich rejects concessions to Hamas and has repeatedly threatened Prime Minister Netanyahu with the collapse of the government.

The Israeli army announced on Sunday morning that the bodies of six hostages had been discovered in an underground tunnel in the south of the Gaza Strip. According to media reports, the Israeli Ministry of Health said that the hostages had been shot at close range about 48 to 72 hours before the autopsy of the bodies. A spokesman for the terrorist organization Hamas, however, said that the hostages had died as a result of Israeli bombardment.