'We could have saved all of them': Israelis go on strike as hostage deaths trigger demand for Gaza deal

Protests and general strikes swept Israel on Monday as frustration and anger mounted over the failure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to secure a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would free Israeli hostages held by the militant group in Gaza for nearly 11 months.

The action comes after Israel's military recovered the bodies of six hostages, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin , from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Goldberg-Polin's funeral was held Monday in Jerusalem. He was 23. "I apologize on behalf of the state of Israel, that we failed to protect you,'' Israeli President Isaac Herzog said at the funeral. His parents vowed that his death would not be in vain. "May his memory be a revolution," his father, Jon Polin, said.

Protesters want Netanyahu do more to bring home the remaining 101 hostages, a third of whom Israeli officials estimate have died in captivity. They say Netanyahu is delaying doing a deal for his own political purposes. His ruling coalition government is propped up by far-right allies bitterly opposed to any kind of agreement with Hamas.

Netanyahu blames Hamas for the lack of progress.

Still, a cousin of Carmel Gat, one of the hostages whose body was recovered by Israel's military on Sunday, told a news conference on Monday that "delays" by Netanyahu were the main obstacles to an agreement.

"All six of them were held together and all six of them were killed in captivity," Gal Dickmann said.

"We could have saved all of them."

Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped. More than 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Violence has also flared in the West Bank, a separate Palestinian enclave.

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Developments:

∎Businesses, schools, banks and airports in Israel faced disruption after Histadrut, one of the country's most powerful unions, called for a general strike aimed at pressuring the government to finalize a hostage deal with Hamas. The families of hostages have been pleading with Netanyahu for months to bring their loved one's home. On Sunday, an estimated 500,000 people demonstrated in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities after the bodies of Goldberg-Polin, Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino were returned to Israel.

∎An Israeli court ruled that the strikes must end by 2:30 p.m local time − a deadline that already passed − but it wasn't immediately clear if protesters were abiding by the order.

Israelis ask: Has the world has forgotten their hostages after the trauma of Oct. 7?

∎ The Washington Post reported that the Biden administration was set to present a final "take it or leave it" cease-fire and hostage-release proposal to Israel and Hamas in the coming weeks. The move involves close collaboration with Egypt and Qatar and may mark the last chance for an American-brokered resolution.

∎Funerals were being held for some of the six hostages whose bodies were recovered. Israel media reported that at the service of Almog Sarusi, a 27-year-old who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, his mother said: "You were sacrificed on the altar of defeating Hamas, of Rafah, of the Philadelphi Corridor. Enough, no more. Only a deal!” Israel's Health Ministry said that a forensic examination determined the hostages were "murdered by Hamas terrorists in a number of shots at close range" 48 to 72 hours before their bodies were discovered.

∎Meanwhile, in Gaza, medical teams were rushing to vaccinate almost 650,000 children against polio. Israel has agreed to limited pauses in the fighting to facilitate the campaign. Gaza recently reported its first polio case in 25 years. The 10-month-old boy who contracted the disease is now paralyzed in one of his legs.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'We could have saved all of them': Israelis go on strike as hostage deaths trigger demand for Gaza deal