Israel announced Sunday that its troops recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. This discovery has led the families of remaining hostages to call for a nationwide general strike, urging the government to secure the release of those still held captive in Gaza.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a campaign group, called on the public to join a massive demonstration demanding an immediate deal to release the hostages. They urged Israelis to demonstrate in Tel Aviv and asked the powerful Histadrut union to join the strike.
An Israeli military statement confirmed that the remains of six hostages were recovered on Saturday from an underground tunnel in Rafah and have been formally identified in Israel. The victims were identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino, US-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and Russian-Israeli Alexander Lobanov. They were all seized by Palestinian militants during a music festival on October 7.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari stated that all six hostages “were abducted alive on the morning of October 7” and “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urged the government to reconsider its decision to keep Israeli forces along the Philadelphi Corridor near the Egyptian border, a significant issue in the ongoing negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire.
