Large protests expected across Israel as national strike for hostages gets underway

A nationwide general strike got underway on Sunday morning, as families of the hostages protested the government’s decision to expand the war in Gaza with a campaign to conquer Gaza City, rather than sign a deal to return their loved ones.

The strike was organized by the October Council, which represents some of the family members of the hostages or bereaved relatives of those killed in the fighting that erupted with the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, as well as the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

The forum said on Saturday night that it was preparing for nearly one million people to pass through Hostages Square in Tel Aviv throughout the day, and for tens of thousands to join activities at hundreds of other sites across Israel.

The action began at 6:29 a.m. — the exact time of day that the Hamas attack erupted on October 7, 2023 — with a series of protests at junctions and intersections across the country.

Protesters will be standing at the intersections handing out yellow ribbons, the symbol that represents the hostages, to passersby, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

The forum published a map highlighting the locations at which early-morning protests were planned.

The main events of the day got underway at 7 a.m., when the October Council will deliver a statement to the press from Sarona Market in Tel Aviv, across the street from the Kirya military headquarters.

Then, at 9 a.m., a special photography exhibition will open at Hostages Square for the public to view throughout the day, until 6 p.m.

The main stage at Hostages Square will also feature speeches from relatives of the hostages at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m., the forum said.

Solidarity marches representing specific industries will be held in Tel Aviv throughout the day, including a doctors’ march at 9 a.m., and a students’ march at 5 p.m.

The students’ march will be followed by a statement to the press from senior academics.

Various businesses and organizations participating in the strike will have representatives present at vigils in Hostages Square throughout the day, rotating on an hourly basis, the forum said.

Then at 6 p.m., a prayer service will be held at Hostages Square before protesters march with hostages’ families from Tel Aviv–Savidor Center railway station to Hostages Square for a main rally at 8 p.m.

Convoys of cars will set out from across Israel at 4 p.m. to converge in Tel Aviv for the evening rally.

A host of events and protests have been planned for areas outside of Tel Aviv as well, including a protest convoy in the Western Galilee, in northern Israel, and a protest outside the Mall Hayam shopping mall in Eilat, all the way in the south of Israel.

Some local councils have also organized their own events in solidarity with the families of the hostages, including the Haifa Municipality, which, together with the families of hostages, will hold a rally at 10 a.m.

Meanwhile, a number of events were also planned in the communities close to the Gaza border that bore the brunt of Hamas’s deadly invasion.

Several convoys of tractors are expected to make their way along Route 232, the vital southern road-turned-killing field where, on October 7, Hamas terrorists gunned down civilians trying to flee the attack.

The local Sha’ar HaNegev and Eshkol regional councils will be on strike all of Sunday, and groups in the border town of Sderot and nearby Ofakim will hold their own demonstrations as well.

In the days leading up to the strike, hundreds of local authorities, businesses, universities, tech companies and other organizations announced that they would join the strike or allow employees to join if they wished to.

Although the Histadrut, Israel’s main labor union, announced that it would not join the strike, it said it would nevertheless support workers planning to participate in protest rallies on Sunday.

The decision by the labor union not to participate followed a meeting between Histadrut chair Arnon Bar-David, senior representatives of the business sector, and representatives of the families of hostages organizing the strike.

He explained to the families that he was concerned that the involvement of the powerful union would divert public discourse around the return of the hostages into politics.

“If I knew that a strike — not just for one day but longer — would end the matter, stop the war and bring back the hostages, I would go for it with full force,” Bar-David said. “Unfortunately, and although my heart is bursting with anger, it has no practical outcome.”

Unions and organizations that announced plans to back the strike or support employees who wished to protest included the Forum of Cultural and Art Institutions, the Israel Airports Authority employees union, and the Israel Bar Association.

An anti-government protest group representing dozens of the country’s largest tech companies, collectively employing tens of thousands of workers, also announced last week that it would join the strike. Among the tech companies are Wix, Fiverr, Meta, Papaya Global, HoneyBook, Natural Intelligence, and Fireblocks. The group also includes venture capital funds such as Qumra Capital, Pitango, Disruptive, and NFX.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 60,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

Sharon Wrobel contributed to this report.