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Agencies

Tens of thousands of people joined a mass rally in Tel Aviv late on Sunday to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza war after the Israeli military said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza.
Many protesters were carrying Israeli flags, and six caskets were put up on a stage to commemorate the dead hostages.

Demonstrators also blocked a central motorway in Tel Aviv, while people also took to the streets in other Israeli cities.
The protesters called on the government to quickly agree to a ceasefire deal and secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Indirect negotiations on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian extremist group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, the United States and Qatar, have been at a stalemate for month.
Israel’s labour federation Histadrut has called for a general strike on Monday to up the pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a hostage deal.
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to submit an urgent request to courts to block the planned strike.


The remains of the hostages were recovered on Saturday “from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area” in southern Gaza, the military said.
They were among 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the continuing war, 97 of whom remain captive in Gaza including 33 the army says are dead.
Scores were released during a negotiated one-week truce in November, but relatives of those still held believe not enough is being done to free them.
Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said a negotiated “deal for the return of the hostages” was urgently needed.
“Were it not for the delays, sabotage and excuses” in months of mediation efforts, the six hostages “would likely still be alive”, a statement said.

The families called for a nationwide general strike to force the government to reach a deal to secure the release of the remaining captives.
Soon afterwards, Histadrut ordered a “complete strike” for Monday.
“I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken,” Histadrut chairman Arnon bar David said.
“Starting tomorrow at six in the morning, the entire Israeli economy will go on complete strike.
“A deal is not progressing due to political considerations and this is unacceptable.”

The six hostages were named as Carmel Gat, taken from a kibbutz community near the Gaza border, and Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino, US-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Russian-Israeli Alexander Lobanov – all seized by Palestinian militants from a music festival.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said all six “were abducted alive on the morning of October 7” and “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them”.
Qatar-based Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said the six were “killed by Zionist (Israeli) bombing”, an accusation the military denied.
A senior Hamas official told journalists on condition of anonymity that “some” of the six had been “approved” for release in a potential hostage-prisoner swap as part of a deal yet to be agreed.
Critics in Israel have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war for political gain.

Netanyahu told Lobanov’s parents on Sunday: “I would like to tell you how much I regret and request forgiveness for not succeeding in bringing Sasha back alive.”
He blamed Hamas leaders “who kill hostages and do not want an agreement”, vowing to “settle the score” with them.
Several US Democratic lawmakers renewed calls for an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire on Sunday in reaction to the killing of six hostages in a tunnel under Gaza, while Republicans criticised US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris for not giving stronger support to Israel.
Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” by the hostages’ deaths, but told reporters he was “still optimistic” a truce and hostage release deal could be reached.
The Biden administration has been involved in ceasefire mediation efforts along with Qatar and Egypt. The Washington Post reported that the US has been talking about the outline of a final take it or leave it deal to present to Israel and Hamas, citing an unidentified senior administration official.

Meanwhile in the occupied West Bank, as soldiers pressed day five of coordinated raids targeting Palestinian militants, Israeli police said a “shooting attack” killed three officers.
The attack near Hebron added to surging violence in the territory where at least 24 Palestinians, including 14 militant groups said were their members, have been killed by the military since the Israeli raids began on Wednesday.
One 20-year-old soldier was killed on Saturday in the raids, in what Israel’s military has called “counterterrorism” operations.
In the northern West Bank, a journalist saw Israeli bulldozers in Jenin city centre, a day after an official said soldiers had destroyed most of the streets and power and water had been cut off in the adjacent refugee camp.
Later on Sunday a journalist heard loud explosions near the camp and saw black smoke over the city.
The United Nations said on Wednesday that Israeli troops or settlers had killed at least 637 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began.
Twenty-three Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during army operations over the same period, according to official figures.

In Gaza, “humanitarian pauses” in the war were expected to take place to aid a massive polio vaccination drive which a health official told journalists had begun in earnest on Sunday.
The World Health Organization has said Israel agreed to a series of three-day “humanitarian pauses” to help the vaccination campaign that aims to reach some 640,000 children, after the first confirmed case in Gaza in 25 years.
On Sunday, it was formally launched at three health centres in central Gaza, said Yasser Shaaban, director of Al-Awda hospital.
“We hope this vaccination campaign for children will be calm,” said Shaaban, noting there were “a lot of drones” flying overhead.
Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, later said nearly 2,000 children were vaccinated initially on Sunday.
Reporting by Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg, dpa, Reuters


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Israel-Gaza war

Tens of thousands rally in Tel Aviv to demand ceasefire deal, release of hostages

Protesters block Tel Aviv’s Ayalon motorway on Sunday during an anti-government rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian militants in Gaza. Photo: AFP

Police detain a protester at an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv, Israel on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Protesters in Tel Aviv block a main road to show support for the hostages in Gaza on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Israeli police detain a protester during clashes following an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Family, friends and supporters of Israeli hostages take part in a protest outside the Kyria military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Photo: dpa

A protester wearing a mask of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends an anti-government demonstration in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Photo: dpa

Israeli security forces load the body of a Palestinian man into a military vehicle during a raid in Hebron city in the occupied West Bank on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Gaza war: Biden vows Hamas leaders will pay after 6 Israeli hostages’ bodies recovered

US President Joe Biden vows justice, calls for remaining hostages’ to be released. Photo: AFP

Members of the Israeli military operate in what they say is the Jenin Area, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli Army/Reuters

The body of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among six recovered in Gaza by Israeli forces. Photo: AFP

US President Joe Biden speaks to the press after attending a service at St. Edmond’s Catholic Church on August 31, in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Photo: AFP

Israeli army says it killed 2 Palestinians attempting West Bank bombings

People walk past the devastation in the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem in the occupied-West Bank after a large-scale Israeli military operation. Photo: dpa

A Palestinian girl searches a home after it was destroyed overnight by an Israeli army raid, in the occupied West Bank, on August 31, 2024. The Israeli army and Israeli settlers have killed at least 637 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began. Photo: AFP

UN food agency suspends staff movement in Gaza after vehicle fired on

Bullets hit one of the armoured vehicles, but no one in it was hurt. Photo: World Food Programme via Reuters

Bullets found in bodies of Israeli hostages recovered from Gaza

Rimon Buchshtab mourns during the funeral of her husband Yagev Buchshtab, who was found dead in Gaza, at the Kibbutz Nirim cemetery in Israel on Wednesday. Photo: AP

The bodies of Israeli hostages (clockwork from top left) Yoram Metzger, Abraham Munder, Yagev Buchshtab, Nadav Popplewell, Alex Dancyg and Chaim Peri were retrieved from Khan Younis in Gaza. Photos: Hostages Families Forum Headquarters via AFP

News

World

Middle East

Israel’s main labour union has ordered a nationwide general strike after soldiers recovered the bodies of 6 dead hostages


Israel’s main labour union has ordered a nationwide general strike after soldiers recovered the bodies of six dead hostages.


Israel

State of Palestine