General Strike in Israel Over Hostages Leads to Uneven Closures, Reflecting Political Divisions 

Passengers queue at passport control at the Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv during a nationwide strike on September 2, 2024. (AFP)
Passengers queue at passport control at the Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv during a nationwide strike on September 2, 2024. (AFP)
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General Strike in Israel Over Hostages Leads to Uneven Closures, Reflecting Political Divisions 

Passengers queue at passport control at the Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv during a nationwide strike on September 2, 2024. (AFP)
Passengers queue at passport control at the Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv during a nationwide strike on September 2, 2024. (AFP)

A rare call for a general strike in Israel to protest the failure to return hostages held in Gaza led to closures and other disruptions around the country on Monday, including at its main international airport. But it was ignored in some areas, reflecting deep political divisions.

Tens of thousands of Israelis had poured into the streets late Sunday in grief and anger after six hostages were found dead in Gaza. The families and much of the public blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they could have been returned alive in a deal with Hamas to end the nearly 11-month-old war.

But others support Netanyahu's strategy of maintaining relentless military pressure on Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attack into Israel triggered the war. They say it will eventually force the militants to give in to Israeli demands, potentially lead to more successful rescues and ultimately annihilate the group.

Israel’s largest trade union, the Histadrut, called for a general strike for Monday, the first since the start of the war. It aims to shut down or disrupt major sectors of the economy, including banking, health care and the country’s main airport.

Airlines at Israel’s main international airport Ben-Gurion were halting outgoing flights between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. Those flights either departed early or were slightly delayed, and travelers were seen lining up at check-in counters despite the limited disruption. Arriving flights were continuing as usual during that time, according to the Israel Airports Authority.

Banks, some large malls and government offices were all closed due to the strike and public transit was limited. Municipalities in Israel’s populated central area, including Tel Aviv, were participating in the strike, leading to shortened school hours and cancellations for public daycares and kindergartens.

Many municipalities, however, including Jerusalem, were not participating in the strike. Israeli media reported that the state appealed to a labor court to cancel the strike, saying it was politically motivated.

The demonstrations on Sunday appeared to be the largest since the start of the war, with organizers estimating that up to 500,000 people joined nationwide events and the main rally held in Tel Aviv.

They are demanding that Netanyahu reach a deal to return the remaining roughly 100 hostages held in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead, even if it means leaving a battered Hamas intact and withdrawing from the territory. Many Israelis support this position, but others prioritize the destruction of the armed group over freedom for the hostages.

Netanyahu has pledged “total victory” over Hamas and blames it for the failure of the negotiations, which have dragged on for much of this year.

Israel said Hamas killed all six hostages shortly before Israeli forces arrived in the tunnel where they were being held. Three of them, including an Israeli-American, were reportedly scheduled to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July. The Israeli Health Ministry said autopsies had determined the hostages were shot at close range and died on Thursday or Friday.

Netanyahu blamed Hamas, saying “whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal.”

Hamas blamed their deaths on Israel and the United States, accusing them of dragging out the talks by issuing new demands, including for lasting Israeli control over two strategic corridors in Gaza. Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.

One of the six hostages was Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, a native of Berkeley, California, who lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack. In April, Hamas issued a video that showed him alive, sparking protests in Israel.

He was one of the best-known hostages, and his parents had led a high-profile campaign for the captives' release, meeting with President Joe Biden, Pope Francis, and addressing the Democratic National Convention last month.

Biden on Sunday said he was “devastated and outraged.” The White House said he spoke with Goldberg-Polin’s parents and offered condolences.

Some 250 hostages were taken on Oct. 7. Israel now believes about 100 remain in captivity, including 35 who are thought to be dead. More than 100 were freed during a ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.

Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were fighters.

The war has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and plunged the besieged territory into a humanitarian catastrophe.



IAEA: Iran Plans New Uranium-enrichment Expansion

Iranian centrifuges are seen on display during a meeting between Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and nuclear scientists and personnel of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), in Tehran, Iran June 11, 2023. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian centrifuges are seen on display during a meeting between Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and nuclear scientists and personnel of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), in Tehran, Iran June 11, 2023. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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IAEA: Iran Plans New Uranium-enrichment Expansion

Iranian centrifuges are seen on display during a meeting between Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and nuclear scientists and personnel of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), in Tehran, Iran June 11, 2023. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian centrifuges are seen on display during a meeting between Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and nuclear scientists and personnel of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), in Tehran, Iran June 11, 2023. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran has informed the UN nuclear watchdog that it plans to install more than 6,000 extra uranium-enriching centrifuges at its enrichment plants and bring more of those already in place online, a confidential report by the watchdog said on Thursday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report seen by Reuters details what Iran meant when it said it would add thousands of centrifuges in response to a resolution against it that the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors passed last week at the request of Britain, France, Germany and the United States.
More enrichment capacity means Iran can enrich uranium more quickly, potentially increasing the nuclear proliferation risk. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons but Western powers say there is no civil explanation for enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons grade, which no other country has done without producing a nuclear bomb.
The only enrichment level specified for new centrifuges was 5% purity, far from the 60% Iran is already producing. The lower purity, particularly at its Fordow site, could be seen as a conciliatory move by Iran as it seeks common ground with European powers before the return of US President-elect Donald Trump, though enrichment levels can be changed easily later.
Iran already has well over 10,000 centrifuges operating at two underground plants at Natanz and Fordow and an above-ground pilot plant at Natanz. The report outlined plans to install 32 more cascades, or clusters, of more than 160 machines each and a massive cascade of up to 1,152 advanced IR-6 machines.
At the same time, the number of cascades Iran plans to install vastly outnumbers those that are already installed and that Iran said it would now bring online by feeding them with uranium feedstock, which the IAEA verified it had yet to do.
"The Agency has determined and shared with Iran the changes required to the intensity of its inspection activities at FFEP (Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant) following the commissioning of the cascades," the report said, referring to Iran's plan to bring eight recently installed IR-6 cascades there online.
Fordow is particularly closely watched because it is dug into a mountain and Iran is currently enriching to up to 60% there. The only other plant where it is doing that is the above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant at Natanz.
Just before last week's quarterly meeting of the IAEA board, Iran offered to cap its stock of uranium enriched to up to 60%, but diplomats said it was conditional on the board not passing a resolution against Iran.
Although the IAEA verified Iran was slowing enrichment at that highest level and called it "a concrete step in the right direction", the board passed the resolution regardless, repeating a call on Iran to improve cooperation with the IAEA.
Thursday's report said Iran had finished installing the last two cascades of IR-2m centrifuges in a batch of 18 at its vast underground Fuel Enrichment Plant at Natanz, and that it planned to bring all 18 online, though the IAEA verified on Nov. 26 that no uranium had been fed into them.
Iran also told the agency it intended to install 18 extra cascades of IR-4 centrifuges at that Natanz plant, each with 166 machines, the report said.
At the above-ground pilot plant at Natanz, Iran informed the IAEA it planned to take various steps that suggested it would increase the number of full, rather than small or intermediate, cascades there, which could produce more enriched uranium.
It also said it planned to install one cascade of up to 1,152 IR-6 centrifuges at that pilot plant, which could be the biggest cascade by far in Iran yet.