On Sunday, September 1, in the early afternoon, on the Kaplan Street esplanade in Jerusalem, in front of the Israeli Prime Minister’s office, supporters of the hostages held in Gaza search for words. They seem conspicuously poor, unable to express the emotions they have felt since the morning announcement of the death of six Hamas captives. “We want to scream, just scream”says Riki Fishel, 74. “Since October 7th it has been the saddest and most desolate day.” retired English teacher Tessa Shrem tries to sum up.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino were discovered in a tunnel near Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian enclave, several dozen meters underground, while the Israeli army was carrying out operations in the area. According to autopsy evidence made public on Sunday by the Minister of Health, the hostages were murdered. “point blank”, – executed, therefore, by Hamas or by those who arrested them–, “between Thursday and Friday morning”.
In front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the crowd has grown. There are the usual Israeli flags, portraits of hostages, against a background of whistles, shouts and tears, with the sound system at full volume, and calls for the head of government to resign. This afternoon he is chairing a Cabinet meeting. Everyone in the crowd accuses him of being responsible for the death of the Gaza hostages, due to a lack of will. “Stop the war now”as sung at the top of one’s voice.
Go out to the streets
After eleven months of conflict, Israeli army bombings and operations have left 40,738 dead in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, most of them women and children, according to the UN. Some of the hostages’ families accuse the Israeli government of scuttling 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 101 hostages in Gaza. Several of them – at least thirty, if not more – are already dead.
For more than ten months, Tessa Shrem and Riki Fishel have been present at every demonstration in support of the families. They hope that tonight something will change. For the first time since 7 October 2023, the trade unions have decided to join the protest movement. The Histadrout trade union centre has launched a general strike starting on Monday at 6 a.m. “The entire Israeli economy will be on general strike”plant director Arnon Bar-David said on Sunday, adding: “We must stop this abandonment of hostages.”
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