Israeli opposition leader backs general strike to end Gaza war, release captives

Israeli opposition chief Yair Lapid on Tuesday backed calls for a general strike in solidarity with captives still held in Gaza.

"Strike on Sunday," Lapid posted on X, saying even supporters of the current government should take part and insisting it was not party political.

Sunday is the first day of the working week in Israel.

"Strike out of solidarity. Strike because the families have asked, and that's reason enough. Strike because no one has a monopoly on emotion, on mutual responsibility, on Jewish values."

Lapid's post followed a call on Sunday by around 20 parents of hostages still held by the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip for a strike.

On Monday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main representative group for relatives, backed the idea.

The group has been pressing the leaders of Israel's main trade union federation, Histadrut, to join in, but it decided against doing so.

Instead, it said it would support "workers' solidarity demonstrations", the Forum said.

"Allow a citizens' strike, from the grassroots to the top. Allow everyone to take a day off on Sunday to follow the dictates of their conscience," the Forum added in a statement.

"The moment has come to act, to take to the streets," it said, adding, "675 days of captivity and war must end".

The group again accused the government of sacrificing the remaining hostages "on the altar of an endless, aimless war".

Last week, Israel's security cabinet approved plans to expand the war into the remaining parts of Gaza not yet controlled by the military, sparking fears that more hostages might die as a result.

Any expansion of Israeli operations is also likely to bring even more Palestinian deaths and destruction to the war-ravaged territory, around 75% of which is already largely destroyed and controlled by Israel.

A wider offensive would also force more people to flee and further disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid during a severe hunger crisis.

Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reportedly floated the idea of transferring Gaza's population to a so-called “humanitarian city” that the military would build on the ruins of the southernmost city of Rafah- now a largely uninhabited Israeli military zone- on the border with Egypt.

Netanyahu has vowed to eventually relocate much of Gaza's population to other countries through what he refers to as voluntary emigration.

The Palestinians and much of the international community see it as a forcible expulsion because Israel's offensive has made much of Gaza uninhabitable.

They fear that concentrating people in the south would be a step toward implementing such plans.

Of the 251 hostages taken captive by Hamas during Hamas's October 2023 attack on southern Israel, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

In early August, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad released videos showing two hostages in emaciated conditions.

Israel's devastating offensive in Gaza has killed at least 61,499 people, the majority civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry.