Summary
Thousands of people have taken to the streets to call for Benjamin Netanyahu to urgently agree a deal with Hamas to release any remaining hostages the terrorist group took during the 7 October attack.
Here’s a round-up of this evening’s events.
Demonstrations have begun in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem after Israel confirmed six hostages taken in the 7 October attack by Hamas had been killed.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino have been returned to Israel. They were killed by “close-range” gun shots, an Israeli government spokesperson said.
Funerals for Lobanov, Sarusi, Danino, and Yerushalmi began taking place on Sunday.
The head of Israel’s Histadrut labour union called for a general strike beginning at 6am (0300 GMT) on Monday to pressure the government into reaching a deal to return Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Arnon Bar-David, whose union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, called on all civilian workers to join the strike and said Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, would be closed from 8am (0500 GMT). The Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Givatayim municipalities have all reportedly said they will join a nationwide strike in support of hostage families tomorrow.
“The entire country will stand still tomorrow,” he told a rally in Tel Aviv.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not rest until it caught those responsible. “Whoever murders hostages – does not want a deal,” he said. The Israeli prime minister told Hamas leaders that “we will hunt you down, we will catch you and we will settle the score”.
Senior Hamas officials said that Israel, in its refusal to sign a ceasefire agreement, was to blame for the deaths. An unnamed Hamas official was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying the hostages had been “killed by the [Israeli] occupation’s fire and bombing”, a claim denied by the IDF.
Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has accused the Histadrut union of acting in the interests of Hamas by calling a general strike. Smotrich said the strike was fulfilling the dream of Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for a ceasefire while paying tribute to the six hostages murdered by Hamas.
US president Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris has spoken to the family of Goldberg-Polin.
At least 40,738 Palestinian people have been killed and 94,154 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Israeli forces continued their offensive on the city of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, and its refugee camp for the fifth consecutive day. The total number of Palestinians killed since Israeli forces began large-scale raids in the northern West Bank on Wednesday is now 24, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Three Israeli police officers were killed after their vehicle was shot at near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military later confirmed it had killed the suspected attacker.
Palestinian health authorities and UN agencies have began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory.
Updated
The head of Histadrut, Arnon Bar-David, has spoken at the demonstration on Tel Aviv, where he called on the private sector to join in the strike.
He said: “The entire country will stand still tomorrow,” including the bus lines, ports and municipalities.
Bar-David said he had promised hostage families to use his power to shut down the economy “when the time comes.”
“That time is now,” he said.
His speech was met with cheers, and some boos. “Where were you until now?” one person shouted, reported the Times of Israel.
