Fresh protests have erupted in Israel following the death of six Israeli hostages whose bodies were found on Saturday in Gaza.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino were discovered by Israeli forces in a tunnel complex under Gaza during a combat in the Rafah area over the weekend.
Israeli military spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari told reporters the bodies of the deceased hostages have now been returned to Israel.
“According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” Hagari said during a briefing.
According to the Israeli press, the autopsy found the hostages had been shot in the head, although the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the cause of death has yet to be determined.
“They were all taken hostage on 7 October and were murdered by the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF statement read.
“Following an identification procedure carried out by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Israel police and the IDF military rabbinate, the IDF manpower directorate’s hostage team, which is responsible for accompanying the families of the hostages, notified their families.”
“The IDF and ISA [the Israel Security Agency, Shin Bet] send their heartfelt condolences to the families. The IDF and Israeli security forces are operating with all means to bring home all the hostages as fast as possible.”
An Israeli health ministry spokesperson said a forensic examination found the hostages were “murdered by Hamas terrorists in a number of shots at close range.”
The Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant issued a statement commending the IDF and ISA forces for “conducting a complex operation to retrieve the bodies of the hostages for burial in Israel.”
“It is too late for the hostages who were murdered in cold blood,” he said in the statement. “We must bring back the hostages that are still being held by Hamas.”
The Hostage Families Forum, an Israeli group representing several relatives of the hostages, released a statement on Saturday night calling for a general strike against the Netanyahu government and accusing the 72-year old prime minister of abandoning the abductees.
“Starting tomorrow, the country will tremble,” the statement read. “We call on the public to prepare to bring the country to a standstill.”
“These six individuals were taken alive, endured the horrors of captivity and were then coldly murdered … A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for over two months. Were it not for the delays, sabotage and excuses, those whose deaths we learned about this morning would likely still be alive.”
The organisation blames Netanyahu for failing to submit to a hostage-for-peace deal with Hamas that the US and its allies have been attempting to negotiate since the end of May.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri blames Israel’s refusal to sign a ceasefire agreement for the deaths of the hostages.
“Netanyahu is responsible for the killing of Israeli prisoners,” Zuhri told Reuters. “The Israelis should choose between Netanyahu and the deal.”
Netanyahu released a statement over the weekend, blaming Hamas for blocking the ceasefire agreement.
“These days, while Israel is conducting intensive negotiations with the mediators in a supreme effort to reach a deal, Hamas continues to firmly refuse any proposal … Whoever murders abductees does not want a deal,” he said.
“We, for our part, did not let up. The Israeli government is committed, and I am personally committed, to continue striving for a deal that will return all our abductees and guarantee our security and existence.”
On Sunday, chief Hamas negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya said an agreement would not be reached until Israel completely withdraws from Gaza Strip.
Israel’s assault on Gaza followed the attack by Hamas on roughly 1200 Israelis last October, which included the abduction of 250 people.
Over a hundred hostages were released following a temporary ceasefire deal in November, and eight have since been rescued.
The IDF said at least 35 hostages are known to have died since, leaving roughly a hundred yet to be accounted for in Gaza.
As the war reaches its eleventh month, Israel’s offensive has displaced over 2.3 million Palestinians and killed at least 40,738 according to the Gaza health ministry.
On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in major cities including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, calling for Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire that would see the release of the hostages.
Israeli media reported up to half a million people gathered to demand action, holding up flags with images of the deceased hostages.
Israeli protesters demonstrated outside Netanyahu’s office in West Jerusalem, while those in Tel Aviv blocked roads and major highways, even lighting a bonfire in the middle of a busy motorway.
Several senior officials have also called on the prime minister to reach a ceasefire agreement, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid and the head of Israel’s trades union federation, Arnon Bar-David.
Bar-David announced a general strike this week to pressure the government into signing a deal.
“It is impossible to stand by any more and look the other way as our children are murdered in the tunnels of Gaza,” he told a press conference. “We are no longer one country. This must be stopped. The state of Israel must be returned to normal. We are getting body bags instead of a deal. I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention might move those who need to be moved.”
Israel’s international airport, Ben Gurion, is set to cease operations at 8am local time (0600 BST) for an unknown period, while government and municipal offices, schools, businesses and restaurants are expected to close in solidarity with the hostages and their families.
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden released a statement addressing the death of 23-year-old Israeli American Goldberg-Polin and the other hostages, saying he felt “devastated and outraged.”
“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” he said. “And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”
On the same day, Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement of her own, calling Hamas “an evil terrorist organisation,” who has “American blood on its hands.”
“The threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel—and American citizens in Israel—must be eliminated and Hamas cannot control Gaza,” she said before acknowledging “the Palestinian people too have suffered under Hamas’ rule for nearly two decades.”
Since May, negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt have failed to secure a ceasefire deal.
Meanwhile, a polio vaccination campaign has begun in the Gaza Strip to inoculate children under-10 after a 10-month-old baby contracted the disease last week.
From Sunday to Tuesday, fighting between Israel and Hamas will halt in areas of Gaza while 640,000 children receive their vaccinations against polio.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said “hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza [are] at risk”, while acting head of UN humanitarian wing OCHA, Joyce Msuya, said that humanitarians are working “relentlessly” to stop the spread of polio through Gaza.