Israel's main labour union calls strike as pressure mounts for hostage deal

By Emily Rose and Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The head of Israel's biggest labour union called for a general strike on Monday to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to bring back Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, as thousands of protesters took to the streets.

The call for a one-day general strike by Arnon Bar-David, whose Histadrut union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, was backed by Israel's main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector.

The alliance of some of the most powerful voices in Israel's economy reflected the scale of public anger over the deaths, announced on Sunday, of six hostages among some 250 people seized by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 last year.

"We must reach a deal (on the return of the surviving hostages). A deal is more important than anything else," Bar-David told a press conference. "We are getting body bags instead of a deal."

In a bid to block the action, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara asking her to submit an urgent request to Israel's Labour Court seeking an injunction against a strike.

Smotrich argued that a strike would harm the economy and that it had no legal basis as its main aim was to influence significant policy decisions of the government on issues related to state security.

"These issues are ... not the subject of a strike by labour organisations and there is no connection between them and labour relations in Israel," he wrote in his letter to Baharav-Miara.

Israel said earlier it had recovered the six bodies from a tunnel in southern Gaza where they were killed not long before Israeli troops reached them.

Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main air transport hub, would be closed from 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Monday, he said. Municipal services in Israel's economic hub Tel-Aviv will also be shut for part of Monday.

Israel's Manufacturers' Association said it backed the strike and accused the government of failing in its "moral duty" to bring the hostages back alive.

"Without the return of the hostages we will not be able to end the war, we will not be able to rehabilitate ourselves as a society and we will not be able to begin to rehabilitate the Israeli economy," said association head Ron Tomer.

Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid earlier threw his support behind the strike action.

PROTESTS

Thousands of protesters blocked roads on Sunday in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and demonstrated outside Netanyahu's residence.

The Hostages Families Forum, which represents the families of some of those held in Gaza, said the death of the six was the direct result of Netanyahu's failure to secure a deal to halt the fighting and bring their loved ones home.

"They were all murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture and starvation in Hamas captivity," the group said in a statement.

Gil Dickmann, a cousin of Carmel Gat, whose body was among those returned, urged Israelis to put pressure on the government in a post on social media platform X.

"Take to the streets and shut down the country until everyone returns. They can still be saved," Dickmann wrote.

Some 101 hostages are still being held in Gaza, although Israel believes one-third are no longer alive. Netanyahu and many hardliners in his government, as well their supporters, remain opposed to any hostage deal that would release militants from Israeli prisons and help to keep Hamas in power.

Aerial footage showed Tel Aviv's main highway blocked with protestors holding flags with pictures of the slain hostages.

Shiri Elbag, whose daughter Liri is being held by militants in Gaza, told Israel's Channel 12 that she was moved to see the protesters but saddened that it took this event to get masses into the streets.

"It's true that (Hamas chief Yahya) Sinwar is the murderer, the father of all murderers, but ultimately Liri and I are citizens of Israel and I appeal to Benjamin Netanyahu - it's his responsibility and his job to bring them home," Elbag said.

Meirav Leshem Gonen, whose daughter Romi is being held by Hamas in Gaza said, "hostages are being murdered due to the military pressure."

(Reporting by Emily Rose and Steven Scheer; Editing by Gareth Jones, Philippa Fletcher and Alex Richardson)