Protestors go on strike in Israel demanding ceasefire and hostage releases
The action organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum marked a fresh push, weeks after militant groups released videos of hostages and Israel signaled plans for a new Gaza offensive.
Protesters fear further fighting could endanger the 50 hostages believed to remain in Gaza, only about 20 of whom are thought to be alive.
They chanted, 'We don't win a war over the bodies of hostages' and demanded a deal.
Netanyahu's allies oppose any deal that leaves Hamas in power
'Today, we stop everything to save and bring back the hostages and soldiers. Today, we stop everything to remember the supreme value of the sanctity of life,' said Anat Angrest, mother of hostage Matan Angrest. 'Today, we stop everything to join hands — right, left, center and everything in between.'
Although Israel's largest labor union, Histadrut, ultimately did not join Sunday's action, strikes of this magnitude are relatively rare in Israel. Many businesses and municipalities decided independently to strike.
Still, an end to the conflict does not appear near. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the immediate release of the hostages but is balancing competing pressures, haunted by the potential for mutiny within his coalition. Far-right members of his cabinet insist they won't support any deal that allows Hamas to retain power. The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages, they threatened to topple Netanyahu's government.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the stoppage 'a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas' hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future.'
Israeli airstrike hits power plant in Yemen
Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen's capital Sunday, escalating strikes on Iran-backed Houthis, who since the war began have fired missiles at Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea.
Both the IDF and a Houthi-run television station in Yemen announced the strikes. Al-Masirah Television said they targeted a power plant in the southern district of Sanhan, sparking a fire and knocking it out of service, the Yemeni station said. Israel's military said Sunday's strikes targeted energy infrastructure it claimed was being used by the Houthis, and were launched in response to missiles and drones aimed at Israel.
While some projectiles have breached its missile defenses — notably during its war with Iran in June — Israel has intercepted the vast majority of missiles launched from Yemen.
More tents sent to Gaza ahead of new displacement order
While demonstrators in Israel demanded a ceasefire, Israel began preparing for an invasion of Gaza City and other populated parts of the besieged strip, aimed at destroying Hamas.
The military body that coordinates its humanitarian aid to Gaza said Sunday that the supply of tents to the territory would resume. COGAT said it would allow the United Nations to resume importing tents and shelter equipment into Gaza ahead of plans to forcibly evacuate peopel from combat zones 'for their protection.'
Tents and the majority of assistance has been blocked from entering Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade in March after a ceasefire collapsed. Deliveries have since partially resumed, though aid organizations say the flow is far below what is needed. Some have accused Israel of 'weaponizing aid' through blockades and rules they say turn humanitarian assistance into a tool of its political and military goals.
Israel's air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza and displaced most of the population. The United Nations is warning that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began.
The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 61,897 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
3 minutes ago
- New York Post
Nationwide strike erupts across Israel demanding hostage deal, end to Gaza war
Thousands of protesters took to the streets across Israel on Sunday, launching a nationwide general strike backed by the families of the hostages taken by Hamas — while demanding a ceasefire deal to free the captives and end the war in Gaza. Demonstrators gathered in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and on major highways around the major Israeli cities, blocking the streets in defiance of the ongoing conflict, which escalated last week after lawmakers approved plans to invade Gaza City. At least 30 protesters were arrested Sunday after flooding the streets, some burning cars and tires on roadways, sparking clashes with police trying to reopen the thoroughfares, The Times of Israel reported. The mass strike and protest was called by the October Council, a group composed of the families of the 251 people who were kidnapped and the more than 1,200 killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. Advertisement 7 Thousands took to the streets across Israel to protest the ongoing war in Gaza, with demonstrators demanding a cease-fire deal to free the hostages. AP 7 At least 30 people were arrested in the general strike after blocking major roads leading to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. AP The group has repeatedly expressed fears that an expansion to the war in Gaza would only put the lives of their loved ones at risk after more than 680 days in captivity. Hamas is believed to still be holding some 50 hostages in Gaza, of whom just about 20 are believed to still be alive. Advertisement The families' desperate pleas were answered by hundreds of local businesses, schools and authorities, all of whom announced that they were either joining the strike directly, or allowing their employees to take time off to protest if they so desired. While Histadrut, Israel's main labor union, said it would not be joining the strike, union chief Arnon Bar-David spoke at Sunday's demonstration in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square with a message of solidarity. 7 Protesters burned tires on the highway connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Sunday. REUTERS 7 The protest was backed by the October Council, which consists of the families of those killed and kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack. REUTERS Advertisement 'This is not an issue of left and right. This is an issue of bringing people back, bringing back people who were kidnapped, kidnapped from their bed, kidnapped from their shift and from their tank,' Bar-David told demonstrators. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Sunday's demonstrations made it clear that the overwhelming majority of people in the Jewish state back an end to the war with Hamas to save the remaining hostages. 'There's no Israeli who doesn't want them back home,' Herzog said. 'We can argue about philosophies, but truly, the people of Israel want our brothers and sisters back home.' 7 Israeli police arrest a protester in Jerusalem during Sunday's nationwide strike. REUTERS Advertisement 7 A group of demonstrators wearing all pink released a pink smoke flare as they called for an immediate end to the war. AFP via Getty Images Herzog also urged the international community to put pressure on Hamas to secure a ceasefire deal after the peace talks with the terror group were reignited last week. While Hamas officials have claimed that they're open to step down as the de facto governors of the Gaza Strip, the terror group has rejected all proposals that would see it disarm without first establishing a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long-rejected any proposals for a two-state solution, claiming that recognizing one would only reward Hamas following the Oct. 7 assault. 7 The war with Hamas has claimed more than 60,000 lives in Gaza, including 7-year-old who was killed following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City over the weekend. AP Netanyahu reiterated over the weekend that the war will not end until Hamas is completely eradicated and the Gaza Strip is demilitarized, with the premier backing plans for full occupation of the Palestinian enclave and exodus of its 2 million refugees. When it comes to the hostages, Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed that military pressure is the best way to free the hostages — a sentiment rejected by former captive Arbel Yehoud, whose boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, is still being held by Hamas. Advertisement 'I know firsthand what it's like to be in captivity. I know that military pressure doesn't bring hostages back — it only kills them,' Yehoud told the crowd in Tel Aviv on Sunday. 'The only way to bring them back is through a deal, all at once, without games.'
San Francisco Chronicle
33 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump administration halts visas for people from Gaza after Laura Loomer questions arrivals
WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after conservative activist Laura Loomer posted videos on social media of children from Gaza arriving in the U.S. for medical treatment and questioning how they got visas, the State Department said it was halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a review. The State Department said Saturday the visas would be stopped while it looks into how 'a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas' were issued in recent days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday told 'Face the Nation' on CBS that the action came after 'outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it." Rubio said there were 'just a small number' of the visas issued to children in need of medical aid but that they were accompanied by adults. The congressional offices reached out with evidence that 'some of the organizations bragging about and involved in acquiring these visas have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas,' he asserted, without providing evidence or naming those organizations. As a result, he said, 'we are going to pause this program and reevaluate how those visas are being vetted and what relationship, if any, has there been by these organizations to the process of acquiring those visas.' Loomer on Friday posted videos on X of children from Gaza arriving earlier this month in San Francisco and Houston for medical treatment with the aid of an organization called HEAL Palestine. 'Despite the US saying we are not accepting Palestinian 'refugees' into the United States under the Trump administration,' these people from Gaza were able to travel to the U.S., she said. She called it a 'national security threat' and asked who signed off on the visas, calling for the person to be fired. She tagged Rubio, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Trump has downplayed Loomer's influence on his administration, but several officials swiftly left or were removed shortly after she publicly criticized them. The State Department on Sunday declined to comment on how many of the visas had been granted and whether the decision to halt visas to people from Gaza had anything to do with Loomer's posts. HEAL Palestine said in a statement Sunday that it was 'distressed' by the State Department decision to stop halt visitor visas from Gaza. The group said it is 'an American humanitarian nonprofit organization delivering urgent aid and medical care to children in Palestine." A post on the organization's Facebook page Thursday shows a photo of a boy from Gaza leaving Egypt and headed to St. Louis for treatment and said he is 'our 15th evacuated child arriving in the U.S. in the last two weeks.' The organization brings 'severely injured children" to the U.S. on temporary visas for treatment they can't get at home, the statement said. Following treatment, the children and any family members who accompanied them return to the Middle East, the statement said. 'This is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program,' it said. The World Health Organization has repeatedly called for more medical evacuations from Gaza, where Israel's over 22-month war against Hamas has heavily destroyed or damaged much of the territory's health system. 'More than 14,800 patients still need lifesaving medical care that is not available in Gaza,' WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday on social media, and called on more countries to offer support. A WHO description of the medical evacuation process from Gaza published last year explained that the WHO submits lists of patients to Israeli authorities for security clearance. It noted that before the war in Gaza began, 50 to 100 patients were leaving Gaza daily for medical treatment, and it called for a higher rate of approvals from Israeli authorities. The U.N. and partners say medicines and even basic health care supplies are low in Gaza after Israel cut off all aid to the territory of over 2 million people for more than 10 weeks earlier this year.
Fox News
34 minutes ago
- Fox News
IDF chief announces plan for 'next phase' of Hamas war
The Israel Defense Forces' Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, revealed Israel's next phase of its war against Hamas on Sunday. Zamir spoke to IDF soldiers during a field tour in Gaza on Sunday, saying they plan to move forward with the momentum of "Operation Gideon's Chariots." "Today we are approving the plan for the next phase of the war. Just as in the recent operations in Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, Judea and Samaria, and Gaza, we will continue to reshape the security reality," Zamir told battalion leaders and others present on Sunday. "We will maintain the momentum of Operation 'Gideon's Chariots' while focusing on Gaza City. We will continue to strike until the decisive defeat of Hamas, with the hostages always at the forefront of our minds," he continued. "Soon we will move on to the next phase of Operation 'Gideon's Chariots,' in which we will continue to enhance the strikes against Hamas in Gaza City until its decisive defeat," he added. "The current campaign is not a pinpoint one; it is just another layer in a long-term and planned strategy, with a multi-front vision to strike all components of the axis, and first and foremost Iran." Zamir went on to thank the soldiers for the months and years of service they have already performed in Gaza, once again emphasizing that the return of the hostages is their highest priority. "You have been fighting for nearly two consecutive years, achieving unprecedented accomplishments that bring security to the communities near the Gaza Strip and to all the civilians of Israel. I am proud of you," he told the soldiers. "The IDF bears the moral duty to bring the hostages home, both alive and fallen." Zamir's field tour comes barely a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced plans for Israel to completely take over the Gaza strip for an indefinite period following the war. The plan, approved by Israel's Security Cabinet, gives the green light to Defense Minister Israel Katz to call up over 400,000 military reservists to carry out the operation until November 30.
