A NATIONWIDE strike swept across Israel yesterday, intensifying the mass pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree an immediate cease-fire and a prisoner exchange deal.
The General Organisation of Workers, Histadrut, initiated the strike to support the Israeli public outcry for the release of hostages held in Gaza and for a ceasefire.
Nearly 770,000 Israelis took to the streets in cities such as Tel Aviv, demanding immediate Netanyahu government action. The strike also affected the country’s main transportation hub, Ben-Gurion International Airport, where flights were suspended for two hours yesterday morning.
Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 40,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 94,100 others, according to local health authorities.
The ongoing blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.
Israel now faces charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6th.
Meanwhile, the general strike has shut down the entire Israeli economy to force the Israeli cabinet, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, to negotiate the release of all captives held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
According to a list from the Histadrut and statements from some cities, municipalities, including Tel Aviv and Haifa, have declared they will join the strike.
Israel’s biggest universities, including Tel Aviv University, also announced that they would join the strike.
The Israeli opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid has also said he supports the strike.
On Sunday, Israel’s Ministry of Finance said workers who join the strike risk not being paid by employers.
According to Israeli media, the 74-year-old chair of the Likud party has feuded with the regime’s high-profile officials who have said a deal should be struck urgently.
Meanwhile, Hamas has offered to release Israeli captives in return for an end to the genocidal war on Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.
The Palestinian resistance group has also said that dozens of captives were killed by Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7th last year.
At the same time, the regime has been enforcing a near-total siege on the coastal territory, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory to a trickle.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said yesterday that the Islamic Republic supports any ceasefire deal agreed by the Palestinians and the resistance movement Hamas.
Araqchi made the remarks during a phone call with his Bulgarian counterpart Ivan Kondov on Sunday.
During the conversation, Araqchi pointed to the situation in Gaza and the Palestinians’ dire need for humanitarian aid, saying: ‘Iran supports any agreement accepted by Palestinians and Hamas that aims to achieve a ceasefire and provide a ground for sending humanitarian aid to Gaza.’
In fact, a new round of ceasefire talks, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US, has recently been resumed.
With the Israeli regime now weakened and undermined by the general strike, the time has come for the international allies of the Palestinians to come into the fight.
This means that particularly the US and UK working classes which support Palestine must organise their own General Strike actions in support of Palestine.
On Saturday 7th September there is to be a massive rally in London in support of Palestine.
On Monday 9th September at 8am there is to be a mass lobby of the TUC Congress to demand that it calls an immediate general strike in support of Palestine. The best way to support Palestine is to join the TUC Congress lobby and insist that the TUC calls a general strike of all the trade unions in support of Palestine. Make sure that you are there!
