JERUSALEM: Israeli opposition chief Yair Lapid on Tuesday backed calls for a general strike in solidarity with hostages 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 Palestinian militants 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.
Of the 251 hostages taken captive by Palestinian militants 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.
Hamas’s 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 61,499 people, the majority civilians, according to the figures from the Hamas-run health ministry considered reliable by the United Nations.
Israel opposition chief backs call for strike in support of Gaza hostages
https://arab.news/2733q
Israel opposition chief backs call for strike in support of Gaza hostages
- Opposition leader Yair Lapid called for strike saying “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”
- The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main representative group for relatives, backed the idea
UN, aid groups warn Gaza operations at risk from Israel impediments
- Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by December 31, which then means they have to close operations within 60 days
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations and aid groups warned on Wednesday that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a “vague, arbitrary, and highly politicized” registration process.
Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by December 31, which then means they have to close operations within 60 days, said the UN and more than 200 local and international aid groups in a joint statement.
“The deregistration of INGOs (international aid groups) in Gaza will have a catastrophic impact on access to essential and basic services,” the statement read.
“INGOs run or support the majority of field hospitals, primary health care centers, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilization centers for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities,” it said.
SUPPLIES LEFT OUT OF REACH: GROUPS
While some international aid groups have been registered under the system that was introduced in March, “the ongoing re-registration process and other arbitrary hindrances to humanitarian operations have left millions of dollars’ worth of essential supplies — including food, medical items, hygiene materials, and shelter assistance — stuck outside of Gaza and unable to reach people in need,” the statement read.
Israel’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement. Under the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, a fragile ceasefire in the two-year-old war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas began on October 10. Hamas released hostages, Israel freed detained Palestinians and more aid began flowing into the enclave where a global hunger monitor said in August famine had taken hold.
However, Hamas says fewer aid trucks are entering Gaza than was agreed. Aid agencies say there is far less aid than required, and that Israel is blocking many necessary items from coming in. Israel denies that and says it is abiding by its obligations under the truce.
“The UN will not be able to compensate for the collapse of INGOs’ operations if they are de-registered, and the humanitarian response cannot be replaced by alternative actors operating outside established humanitarian principles,” the statement by the UN and aid groups said.
The statement stressed “humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political,” adding: “Lifesaving assistance must be allowed to reach Palestinians without further delay.”
