This Sunday 1is September, early evening, on the Kaplan Street esplanade in Jerusalem, in front of the Israeli Prime Minister’s office, supporters of the hostages held in Gaza are searching for words. They seem glaringly poor, unable to express the emotions they have felt since the announcement this morning of the deaths of six Hamas captives. “We want to scream, just scream”says Ricky Fishel, who is 74 years old. “Since October 7th [2023]it is the saddest, most desolate day”tries to sum up Tessa Shrem, a retired English teacher.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino were discovered in a tunnel towards Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian enclave, several dozen meters deep, while the Israeli army was carrying out operations in the area. According to the autopsy elements released Sunday by the health minister, the hostages were killed “point blank”, – executed, therefore, by Hamas or those who held them –, “between Thursday and Friday morning”.
In front of the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, the crowd grows. There are the usual Israeli flags, portraits of hostages, against a backdrop of whistles, shouts and tears, with the sound system turned up to full volume, and calls for the resignation of the head of government. He is chairing a cabinet meeting that evening. Everyone in the crowd accuses him of bearing responsibility for the deaths of the Gaza hostages, for not wanting to “Stop the war, now”as it is chanted at the top of its voice.
Go down to the street
After eleven months of conflict, Israeli army bombings and operations have left 40,738 dead in Gaza according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry – mostly women and minors according to the UN. Some of the hostages’ families accuse the Israeli government of sabotaging any possibility of an agreement with the Palestinian Islamist movement. The negotiation process is paralyzed by contradictions between Hamas’ demands and those of Israel, despite mediation efforts by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. According to the Israeli army, there are still one hundred and one hostages in Gaza. A certain number of them – at least thirty, if not more – are already dead.
For more than ten months, Tessa Shrem and Riki Fishel have been at every demonstration in support of the families. Tonight, they hope, something is starting to change. For the first time since October 7, 2023, the unions have decided to join the protest movement. The Histadrut trade union center has called for a general strike starting Monday at 6 a.m. “The entire Israeli economy will be on general strike”said the head of the plant, Arnon Bar-David, on Sunday, adding: “We must stop this abandonment of hostages.”
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