Zürcher Nachrichten - Israel set for general strike after Gaza hostages found dead

EUR -
AED 3.832684
AFN 72.959602
ALL 98.462959
AMD 410.45402
ANG 1.873047
AOA 957.921829
ARS 1062.031565
AUD 1.668562
AWG 1.878277
AZN 1.784801
BAM 1.956057
BBD 2.098476
BDT 124.196346
BGN 1.95543
BHD 0.392152
BIF 3072.704402
BMD 1.043487
BND 1.411486
BOB 7.181945
BRL 6.350643
BSD 1.039337
BTN 88.357629
BWP 14.364891
BYN 3.401248
BYR 20452.35176
BZD 2.089175
CAD 1.498735
CDF 2994.808319
CHF 0.931781
CLF 0.03736
CLP 1030.865674
CNY 7.613704
CNH 7.60587
COP 4549.298739
CRC 524.369013
CUC 1.043487
CUP 27.652414
CVE 110.279514
CZK 25.108428
DJF 185.074358
DKK 7.458116
DOP 63.288329
DZD 140.667513
EGP 53.089373
ERN 15.65231
ETB 129.556951
FJD 2.417812
FKP 0.826423
GBP 0.829839
GEL 2.932642
GGP 0.826423
GHS 15.278011
GIP 0.826423
GMD 75.13081
GNF 8979.181761
GTQ 8.008054
GYD 217.438617
HKD 8.11073
HNL 26.382472
HRK 7.484837
HTG 135.967895
HUF 414.03543
IDR 16874.546735
ILS 3.801242
IMP 0.826423
INR 88.646863
IQD 1361.479186
IRR 43917.772492
ISK 145.170484
JEP 0.826423
JMD 162.611401
JOD 0.739936
JPY 163.242118
KES 134.177659
KGS 90.783029
KHR 4176.549681
KMF 486.395546
KPW 939.138018
KRW 1509.320727
KWD 0.321342
KYD 0.866114
KZT 545.821836
LAK 22747.993892
LBP 93069.24896
LKR 305.14016
LRD 188.634826
LSL 19.134218
LTL 3.081147
LVL 0.631195
LYD 5.106672
MAD 10.460077
MDL 19.14352
MGA 4903.645375
MKD 61.5431
MMK 3389.206159
MNT 3545.769827
MOP 8.320295
MRU 41.33344
MUR 49.25222
MVR 16.052761
MWK 1802.137182
MXN 20.931771
MYR 4.704048
MZN 66.682732
NAD 19.134218
NGN 1616.92545
NIO 38.245033
NOK 11.810924
NPR 141.372606
NZD 1.846749
OMR 0.401533
PAB 1.039337
PEN 3.870109
PGK 4.214555
PHP 61.430102
PKR 289.288974
PLN 4.258903
PYG 8104.066586
QAR 3.788799
RON 4.979106
RSD 117.045935
RUB 107.244587
RWF 1448.790677
SAR 3.91966
SBD 8.748133
SCR 14.551486
SDG 627.662417
SEK 11.505215
SGD 1.414024
SHP 0.826423
SLE 23.787187
SLL 21881.410825
SOS 593.978174
SRD 36.65877
STD 21598.081035
SVC 9.094197
SYP 2621.793487
SZL 19.129518
THB 35.780887
TJS 11.369896
TMT 3.662641
TND 3.311736
TOP 2.44395
TRY 36.710281
TTD 7.053928
TWD 34.050018
TZS 2468.324859
UAH 43.588037
UGX 3812.501768
USD 1.043487
UYU 46.356101
UZS 13399.76356
VES 53.713772
VND 26561.970104
VUV 123.884906
WST 2.882934
XAF 656.043343
XAG 0.035154
XAU 0.000398
XCD 2.820076
XDR 0.792804
XOF 656.043343
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.263155
ZAR 19.096059
ZMK 9392.640903
ZMW 28.762786
ZWL 336.002496
  • SCS

    -0.5800

    11.74

    -4.94%

  • NGG

    0.8200

    58.5

    +1.4%

  • RBGPF

    59.9600

    59.96

    +100%

  • BTI

    0.1131

    36.24

    +0.31%

  • RELX

    -0.3100

    45.47

    -0.68%

  • RIO

    -0.0900

    58.64

    -0.15%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    23.86

    +0.08%

  • GSK

    0.1700

    33.6

    +0.51%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.27

    -0.14%

  • BP

    0.1900

    28.6

    +0.66%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    23.16

    +0.22%

  • CMSD

    0.0000

    23.56

    0%

  • AZN

    0.9100

    65.35

    +1.39%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    8.39

    +0.12%

  • BCC

    -0.2600

    122.75

    -0.21%

  • JRI

    0.1100

    12.06

    +0.91%

Israel set for general strike after Gaza hostages found dead
Israel set for general strike after Gaza hostages found dead / Photo: - - the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters/AFP

Israel set for general strike after Gaza hostages found dead

Israel's main union on Sunday ordered a nationwide general strike after soldiers recovered the bodies of six dead hostages from the Gaza Strip where the military is battling Palestinian militants.

Text size:

The remains of the six were recovered 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 ongoing 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.

Shortly afterwards, the head of Israel's powerful Histadrut trade union ordered a "complete strike" for Monday in support of the hostages.

- 'Complete strike' -

"I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken," Histadrut chairman Arnon bar David said in a statement.

"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 site.

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 AFP 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 Prime Minister Benjamin 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.

- West Bank attack -

 

The Biden administration has been involved in ceasefire mediation efforts along with Qatar and Egypt.

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 Saturday in the raids, which Israel's military has called "counter-terrorism" operations.

On Sunday, a "shooting attack" near the Tarqumiya checkpoint in the Hebron area in the southern West Bank killed three police officers.

The military said it "eliminated" the suspected attacker after surrounding a house in Hebron.

In the northern West Bank, an AFP photographer 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 an AFP photographer heard loud explosions near the camp and saw black smoke over the city.

The United Nations said Wednesday that at least 637 Palestinians had been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers 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.

- Polio vaccinations -

In the besieged Gaza Strip, "humanitarian pauses" in the nearly 11-month war between Israel and Hamas were due to take place to facilitate a massive polio vaccination drive which a health official told AFP had begun in earnest Sunday.

Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's offensive has killed at least 40,738 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

The fighting has devastated Gaza, repeatedly displaced most of its 2.4 million people and triggered a humanitarian crisis. Water, sanitation and medical facilities have been ravaged, contributing to the spread of preventable disease.

The World Health Organization has said Israel agreed to a series of three-day "humanitarian pauses" to facilitate 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.

 

Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, later said nearly 2,000 children were vaccinated initially Sunday.

But she added that they were anxious about later: "If the bombing continues after 2:00 pm this is of course going to impact the vaccination campaign... The only way to do this is a ceasefire."

On Sunday, rescuers in the Gaza Strip said 10 people had been killed in Israeli bombardment and an air strike.

burs-srm/dcp

A.P.Huber--NZN