Have the hostage deaths pushed Israel to the breaking point?
Nearly 11 months into a war that has left the country isolated and deeply divided, Israel has erupted.
A nationwide strike threatened to bring the nation's economy to a standstill Monday after six hostages held in Gaza since Oct. 7 were killed in Hamas captivity, news that fueled mass protests featuring hundreds of thousands of people in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and beyond.
The dramatic display of dissent disrupted flights, hospitals and banks in an angry escalation of a monthslong campaign to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a cease-fire deal with Hamas.
Despairing hostage families, large sections of the public and some of Netanyahu's own ministers hoped the weekend's events might force him to change course. But there was little immediate sign of that Monday, with the government winning its bid to force an early end to the general strike in Israel's labor court.
'A lot of anger'
Protesters had blocked roads and marched on government buildings to demand a truce deal after the bodies of Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt. Ori Danino were found almost 11 months after they were taken hostage during Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attacks.
Netanyahu and U.S. officials have publicly blamed Hamas for the failure to reach a deal, while Israel's military has pressed ahead with its assault on the devastated Palestinian enclave.
But protesters were in no doubt, accusing their government of having abandoned the hostages after failing to negotiate a deal that would see the remaining captives released.
“There’s a lot of anger,” Nimrod Goren, a senior fellow for Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute, which is based in Washington, D.C., told NBC News.
The fate of the six hostages found dead in Gaza, he said in a phone interview Monday, “really reflected the deepest fears that were around this hostage crisis, knowing that they were alive just a few days ago and that military pressure did not manage to bring them home.”
While public outrage in Israel appeared to have reached a crescendo, Goren said it remained to be seen whether it might push Netanyahu to act.
“We have to see how this momentum grows because eventually, it has to lead to some political action,” he said.
'Save the others'
The nationwide strike came as the grief-stricken families held funerals for the loved ones they had spent months fighting to bring home.
Crowds gathered at the funeral for Goldberg-Polin on Monday, with many holding up Israeli flags, as well as the flag of Hapoel Tel Aviv, the 23-year-old's favorite soccer club, as his parents delivered heart-wrenching tributes to their son.
“Hersh, we failed you, we all failed you," his father, Jon Polin, said. "You would not have failed you. You would have pushed harder for justice."
"How do we live the rest of our life without you?" asked his mother, Rachel Goldberg. "I pray that your death will be a turning point in this horrible situation in which we are all entangled."
“Finally my sweet boy, finally, finally, finally, finally you’re free,” she said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also spoke at the funeral. "As a human being and as a father and as the president of the state of Israel, I want to say how sorry I am," he said "How sorry I am that we didn't protect Hersh on that dark day. How sorry I am that we failed to bring him home."
A funeral was also expected to be held later in the day for 40-year-old Carmel Gat.
“It’s too late for Carmel. Her blood is on your hands, Netanyahu. But you can still save the others,” her cousin, Gil Dickmann, told NBC News in Tel Aviv.
In a poll conducted in May by the Jerusalem-based Israel Democracy Institute, the majority of the Jewish public in Israel, or 56%, said they believed securing a deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza should be a higher priority than pressing ahead with expanded military operations in southern Gaza.
But despite optimism from Washington and ramped up efforts in recent weeks to agree a deal between Israel and Hamas, there has been no breakthrough.
The Biden administration has repeatedly accused Hamas of holding up a deal, but recently U.S. and foreign officials have said conditions introduced by Netanyahu also disrupted efforts. Biden told reporters Monday that Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure an agreement.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Sunday for Israel's security Cabinet to convene and reverse a decision thought to be a sticking point in negotiations, a demand that it be allowed to maintain a presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, which forms Gaza’s border with Egypt.
“It's too late for the abductees who were murdered in cold blood," he said in a post on X. "The abductees who remain in the captivity of Hamas must be returned home."
Goren echoed a similar warning, saying that if Netanyahu sticks with the condition, the "prospects of reaching a deal in the future are almost non-existent" and the hostages who remain held in the enclave "may have the same fate" as the latest captives to have died in the war.
Around 250 people were taken hostage in Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks, while some 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli officials, who have said around 100 hostages remain held in Gaza, with around a third believed to be dead.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel's monthslong offensive in the enclave, according to local officials.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
