After the death of six more hostages in Gaza, Israeli protests break out to demand a ceasefire

JERUSALEM (AP) — Grieving and angry Israelis poured into the streets Sunday night after six more hostages were found dead in Gaza, chanting “Now! Now!” and demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the remaining prisoners home.

Israel's largest union, Histadrut, put pressure on the government by calling a general strike for Monday, the first since the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war. The strike aims to shut down or disrupt key economic sectors, including banking, health care and the country's main airport.

Tens of thousands of Israelis protested in one of the largest demonstrations since the war began nearly 11 months ago. Negotiations for a ceasefire have dragged on for months and many blame Netanyahu for the failure to reach an agreement. The Israeli army has acknowledged that it would be difficult to free dozens of the remaining hostages and said only an agreement could enable a large-scale return.

Thousands of people gathered outside Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem, some of them crying. In Tel Aviv, relatives of the hostages marched with coffins to symbolize the tribute.

“We really believe that the government is making these decisions to protect itself and not to protect the lives of the hostages, and we have to tell them, 'Stop!'” said Shlomit Hacohen, a Tel Aviv resident.

Three of the six hostages found dead – including an Israeli-American citizen – were reportedly set to be released as part of the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July, adding to anger and frustration among protesters.

“Nothing is worse than knowing they could have been saved,” said Dana Loutaly. “Sometimes it takes something so terrible to wake people up and get them out on the streets.”

The military said all six hostages were killed shortly before Israeli forces arrived. Netanyahu blamed the militant Hamas for the stalled negotiations, saying: “Those who murder hostages do not want a deal.”

One of the hostages was 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin from Berkeley, California, who lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack. In April, a video released by Hamas showed him alive, sparking new protests in Israel.

The army identified the others as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.

The army said the bodies were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, about a kilometer from where another hostage was rescued alive last week.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesman, said Israeli forces found the bodies several dozen meters underground while “continuous fighting” was underway, but there was no shooting in the tunnel itself. He said there was no doubt Hamas had killed them.

Hamas has offered the release of the hostages in exchange for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-ranking militants.

Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a US-backed ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it agreed to in July.

The funerals began and the outrage continued to grow. Sarusi's body was wrapped in an Israeli flag. “You have been abandoned again and again, day after day, hour after hour, 331 days,” said his mother Nira. “You and so many beautiful and pure souls. Enough is enough. This is over.”

Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is destroyed, a statement some Israelis support as society remains deeply divided over the war.

But critics accused the prime minister of putting his personal interests above those of the hostages. The end of the war will likely lead to an investigation into his government's failings in the October 7 attacks, the collapse of the government and the early elections.

“I think this is an earthquake. This is not just another step in the war,” said Nomi Bar-Yaacov, associate fellow in the International Security Program at Chatham House, shortly before the protests began on Sunday.

Israeli television station Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant clashed at a cabinet meeting on the security conflict on Thursday. Gallant accused him of putting control of a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border – a major sticking point in the talks – above the lives of the hostages.

An Israeli official confirmed the report and said three of the hostages – Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi and Gat – were to have been released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July. The official was not authorized to brief the media on the negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“On behalf of the State of Israel, their families are near and dear to my heart and I ask for forgiveness,” Gallant said on Sunday.

A forum of hostage families called for a “complete shutdown of the country” to force a ceasefire and the release of the hostages.

Even a mass outburst of anger would not pose an immediate threat to Netanyahu or his far-right government. While he still has a majority in parliament, he has caved to public pressure before. Mass protests led him to call off the dismissal of his defense minister last year, and a general strike last year helped delay his controversial judicial reforms.

Goldberg-Polin's parents, U.S.-born immigrants to Israel, became perhaps the hostages' most high-profile relatives on the international stage, meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and Pope Francis and speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 21 to sustained applause and shouts of “Bring him home.”

His mother Rachel said during the speech: “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive.”

Biden said on Sunday that he was “devastated and outraged.” The White House said he had spoken to Goldberg-Polin's parents and expressed their condolences.

On October 7, around 250 hostages were taken. Israel believes that 101 hostages remain in captivity, of whom 35 are presumed dead. More than 100 were released during a ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians held captive in Israel. Eight were rescued by Israeli forces. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped from captivity in December.

When militants led by Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7, they killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. According to local health authorities, more than 40,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli retaliatory offensive in the Gaza Strip. They did not provide any information on the number of fighters.

On Sunday, an Israeli strike hit a car on a road in the southern Gaza Strip, killing four Palestinians, according to officials at Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and an AP journalist who counted the bodies.

The war has forced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants to flee, often multiple times, and plunged the besieged territory into a humanitarian catastrophe.

Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Danica Kirka in London and Darlene Superville in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at