The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza have appealed for a nationwide strike on Sunday to call for a cease-fire agreement with Hamas to free their relatives, even as Israel’s government has moved to expand the nearly two-year military campaign in the enclave.
“Silence enables their sacrifice on the altar of an endless war without purpose or goal,” said the Hostage Families Forum, an advocacy group. “This is the time for everyone to join us, across the entire country.”
The call to shut down the nation’s businesses and schools came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the country intended to expand its operations in Gaza. Last week, the Israeli security cabinet authorized a proposal to “take over” Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering.
It was unclear how many would join the work stoppage that the families of the hostages called for. The country’s largest labor association, the Histadrut, has already ruled out participating. The union joined a previous strike last year that did not fundamentally sway government policy.
“Unfortunately, and although my heart is bursting with anger, it has no practical outcome,” Arnon Bar-David, the Histadrut leader, said in a statement on Monday explaining his decision.
Hamas and its allies abducted about 250 people in the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that ignited the war in Gaza, as bargaining chips in future negotiations with Israel. More than 100 were later freed in two short-lived cease-fires, and the Israeli military recovered the bodies of others in Gaza.
More than 60,000 people have been killed in the subsequent Israeli campaign in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to Gaza health officials. Those figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
About 20 living hostages and the bodies of some 30 others are believed to still be in Gaza. They include Evyatar David, whose family recently glimpsed him, starved and weak, in a Hamas hostage video, raising further fears over the fates of the remaining captives.
It will most likely take weeks to call up enough reserve soldiers to take over Gaza City and to evacuate people living there, leaving time for efforts to secure a truce. But the relatives of the hostages fear the Israeli military will attack areas where their relatives are being held, putting their lives at risk.
Anat Angrest, whose son Matan was abducted during the attack, said at a news conference on Sunday that the Israeli government could have brought him back “long ago.” Matan Angrest, 22, was serving as an Israeli soldier near the Gaza border during the Oct. 7 attacks.
“The government has decided to send to conquer Gaza, to send soldiers near where Matan is being held,” Ms. Angrest told reporters. “They’re fighting to bring him back — but in practice, they’re putting both his life in danger and their own.”
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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