Protests rock Israel after bodies of six hostages were retrieved from Gaza

By Mehul Srivastava in London, Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv and James Politi in Washington

Israel’s largest trade union federation Histadrut called a general strike on Monday, which will close Tel Aviv airport and much of the country, while opposition leaders called for mass protests to force Netanyahu to speed up negotiations to save the lives of the remaining 101 hostages, some of whom are already presumed dea

By Sunday night, street protests in Tel Aviv had already swollen to the largest since the war began on October 7, with tens of thousands of people holding flags and streaming down streets lined with shuttered businesses.

“All of them, now,” they chanted, demanding that Netanyahu accepts a deal for their release, even if it means ending the war in Gaza.

The bodies of Carmel Gat, who was kidnapped by Hamas from the Be’eri kibbutz; Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli-American whose parents had lobbied US President Joe Biden for his return; and four others kidnapped from the Nova music festival — Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino — were found in a tunnel dozens of metres underground in Rafah and brought back to Israeli territory by the Israel Defense Forces early on Sunday morning.

“According to our initial assessment, they were cruelly murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them,” said military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

The IDF declined to share more details immediately, including how the hostages were killed and when, citing the privacy of the families and the early stage of the investigation.

Hamas suggested in a statement that they had died in an Israeli air strike. The IDF described the Hamas statement as “psychological warfare”.

The bodies were discovered within a kilometre of where another hostage was rescued last week.

But the IDF did not have any specific intelligence about the location of the six hostages, a second spokesman, Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said in a later briefing, indicating that they had not been killed as part of an active rescue operation.

“We had a general idea that hostages might be in the area, and we were in the process of conducting our operations above and under the ground,” he said, adding that the troops had been operating with great caution.

News of the deaths deepened a political crisis in Israel, where many of the families of the remaining hostages blame Netanyahu for delaying a US-backed deal by demanding that Israel hold on to territory on the Gaza-Egypt border.

“We are getting body bags instead of a deal,” said Arnon Bar-David, the leader of Histadrut, saying he was convinced that political considerations were holding up the deal.

“I call on the people of Israel to go out to the streets tonight and tomorrow and for everyone to take part in the strike,” he said.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it had lobbied Histadrut to call the strike “to apply pressure on the cabinet and the prime minister to end the abandonment, save the living hostages, and return the 101 hostages in a deal”.

Netanyahu released a statement blaming Hamas for the failure of hostage swap negotiations, which included high-level talks in mid-August, backed by the US, Egypt and Qatar.

“Hamas is continuing to steadfastly refuse all proposals,” he said. “Even worse, at the exact same time, it murdered six of our hostages — whoever murders hostages, does not want a deal.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog apologised to the families for “failing to bring” their loved ones home safely, while opposition leader Yair Lapid urged a nationwide strike.

The White House said Biden was “devastated and outraged” by the hostage deaths. “Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” he said. “We will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”

US vice-president Kamala Harris, who is running against Republican former president Donald Trump in November’s presidential election, also blasted Hamas.

The threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel — and American citizens in Israel — must be eliminated and Hamas cannot control Gaza,” she said. “The Palestinian people too have suffered under Hamas’ rule for nearly two decades.”

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that kidnapped roughly 240 people on October 7, blamed the US and Israel for the hostages’ deaths because of their delays in negotiating a deal, according to a statement by one of its senior leaders on Telegram.

War was triggered after Hamas launched a cross-border raid, killing 1,200 people in Israel that day, according to official tallies. Israel’s subsequent war with Hamas has led to the deaths of more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

The ensuing 10-month hostage crisis appears to have no resolution in sight, despite several rounds of high-level negotiations by mediators.

On Capitol Hill, Republican senator Lindsey Graham said the US and Israel needed to “increase the cost” to Iran and its oil industry if they wanted the hostages home. “Iran is the great Satan here. Hamas is the junior partner,” Graham said.

Talks to reach another swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners — and a possible ceasefire in Gaza — have stalled in recent weeks over Netanyahu’s demands that the IDF retain a presence inside Gaza’s border with Egypt.

Many of the families of the hostages say that is scuppering the chances of a deal with Hamas, which has demanded a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the besieged enclave.

Israel’s Channel 12 news reported at the weekend that Netanyahu clashed with his defence chief, Yoav Gallant, and formally asked the security cabinet to back his demand.

“The cabinet must gather immediately and reverse the decision made on Thursday,” said Gallant after the bodies were retrieved. “It is too late for the hostages who were murdered in cold blood.”