Gaza hostage families to government: Destroy Hamas

(JNS) - Members of the Gvura Forum converged on the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on Monday to protest against a general strike called by the Histadrut labor federation following the IDF's recovery over the weekend of six hostages' bodies from the Gaza Strip.

"We call on the prime minister not to give up to [Hamas terror chief Yahya] Sinwar and instead to keep up military pressure to achieve total victory," Yehoshua Shani, a member of the forum whose son IDF Capt. Ori Shani was killed in action at Kissufim on Oct. 7, told JNS.  

"Our heart is with the families of the hostages who were killed by Hamas and not the government of Israel, which needs to do everything possible to bring the hostages back while at the same time destroying Hamas and ending terror," Yehoshua continued.

Captives Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Almog Sarusi, 25, Alexander Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Master Sgt. Ori Danino, 25, whose bodies were recovered from a Rafah tunnel in southern Gaza overnight Saturday, were shot multiple times at close range shortly before their discovery.

Israelis reacted with anger and many blamed the Netanyahu government for Hamas's ongoing refusal to accept a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, one that Jerusalem has accepted.

An estimated 30,000 people protested in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, demanding the government return the hostages.

The Histadrut, representing roughly 800,000 Israeli trade unionists, declared a 24-hour general strike starting at 6 a.m. on Monday. Ben-Gurion International Airport halted departures, initially from 8 to 10 a.m. Hospitals moved to reduce operations. Ports only offloaded expendable items and medical supplies.

The Tel Aviv Labor Court subsequently ordered the strike to end at 2:30 p.m., with the court's president calling the economic shutdown "political."

Judge Hadas Yahlom, president of the court in Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, said in her decision that "after hearing the parties' positions and perusing the materials submitted to the case, we hereby grant a temporary injunction against the announced strike."

Shani said, "We understand the pain, we understand the families, but we still appeal to the government to keep the war on until they end Hamas's terror reign because we need to protect the whole nation here."

About 200 people participated in the forum's protest. Demonstrators erected a tent adjacent to the Prime Minister's Office where people can visit and exchange stories of Israelis heroes, including those who were killed in the current war, from bereaved families demanding total victory over Hamas.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stopped by the rally on Monday, stating, "We are using our power in the government to prevent a reckless deal. With Hamas you need to speak only between gunsights."

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was "outraged to the depths" of his soul by the murder of six hostages in Gaza by Hamas, blaming the terrorist group for blocking a ceasefire agreement.

"Our efforts to free our hostages are continuing constantly. Since December, Hamas has refused to hold genuine negotiations," he said.

"Three months ago, on May 27, Israel agreed to a hostage-release deal with full backing from the United States. Hamas refused. Even after the United States updated the deal framework on Aug. 16-we agreed, and Hamas again refused.

"Whoever murders hostages-does not want a deal," continued Netanyahu. "For our part, we will not relent. The government of Israel is committed, and I am personally committed, to continue striving toward a deal that will return all of our hostages and ensure our security and our existence."

Last month, the prime minister held a meeting with representatives of both the Gvura Forum and the Tikva Forum, another group that believes ongoing military pressure is the best way to secure the freedom of the 101 remaining captives.

While the larger Hostage and Missing Families Forum has accused Netanyahu of abandoning the captives, the Tikva Forum on Sunday called on the government to end months of indirect negotiations with Hamas. 

"Hamas has actually started to kill people directly to raise the pressure on the government to enter a deal on its conditions," Shimon Or, the uncle of captive Avinatan Or and a member of the Tikva Forum, told JNS on Sunday.

"We knew that Hamas was a murderous terror organization, but they are now killing during negotiations. This represents a change in their strategy," he continued.

"Hamas anticipated that instead of blaming the killers, the Israeli people would put the responsibility on the government, which actually wants to bring back the hostages," he added. 

Regarding the Israeli Security Cabinet vote last week in support of Netanyahu's stance of maintaining an Israel Defense Forces presence in the Philadelphi Corridor on Gaza's border with Egypt, Or stressed that such a position will save lives. 

"Keeping troops in the corridor ensures that Hamas will not rearm in Gaza, and so there will not be another October 7," he said. "The government didn't go to war for nothing, we went to war keep the whole country safe.

"There cannot be a situation where the government gives up clauses in any deal that are essential to keeping the Israeli people and the country safe once the hostages are back," he continued. 

"We are demanding from Prime Minister Netanyahu that he stop negotiating and makes sure Hamas knows that it will no longer exist," Or said.

Severing ties with Hamas, he added, would show that taking hostages will not be rewarded.

"Continuing to speak with Hamas after what it did will lead to more deaths, because Hamas will understand these actions bring results," Or said.

"The blood of the hostages will be on the Histadrut labor union and the Kaplan Force [left-wing activist group], which try to gain political ground by exploiting the pain of the poor families of hostages," he said.