An Israeli court ordered strikers back to work by Monday afternoon, as dozens of protesters continued to take to the streets to call out the failure to return hostages held in Gaza.
The Bat Yam Labor Court ordered the general strike to shut down by 2:30 p.m. local time — three and a half hours earlier than the Histadrut Labor Federation planned to end it, the Times of Israel reported.
The strike went into effect over the weekend, after the bodies of six hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 were found in the Gaza Strip.
Autopsies revealed that the hostages — including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg Polin — were alive as recently as 72 to 48 hours before they were found. They had all been shot multiple times at close range.
Protesters and the families of the hostages insisted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government should have guaranteed the hostages were returned alive as part of a deal with the terror group.
Histadrut Labor Federation chair Arnon Bar-David said he respected the court’s decision to end the strike, the Times of Israel said.
“It is important to emphasize that the solidarity strike was a significant measure and I stand behind it. Despite the attempts to paint solidarity as political, hundreds of thousands of citizens voted with their feet,” he noted.
“I thank every one of you — you proved that the fate of the hostages is not right-wing or left-wing, there is only life or death, and we won’t allow life to be abandoned.”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the loved ones of the Oct. 7 hostages, encouraged the public to continue to protest despite the ruling.
“This is not about a strike, this is about rescuing the 101 hostages that were abandoned by Netanyahu with the cabinet decision last Thursday,” they wrote.
Last week, Israel’s ministers voted to support the IDF’s ongoing presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, or the narrow strip of land along the border of the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Netanyahu reportedly told Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday that he was prioritizing maintaining Israeli troops in the corridor over saving the remaining hostages, according to the Times of Israel.
“The significance of this is that Hamas won’t agree to it, so there won’t be an agreement and there won’t be any hostages released,” Gallant responded to a series of IDF maps outlining their positions along the border, according to a transcript that was leaked to Channel 12.
After a tense back-and-forth, Gallant told the ministers that their vote on the maps gave Israel “two possibilities.”
“Either keeping the IDF deployed on the Philadelphi Corridor or bringing home the hostages — you are deciding to stay on the Philadelphi Corridor. Does this seem logical to you?” he demanded.
“There are living (hostages) there!” he added.
Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer cautioned Gallant that the prime minister can “do whatever he wants.”
“The prime minister can indeed make all the decisions, and he can also decide to have all the hostages killed,” Gallant snapped.
