Israel's national workers union to strike in protest over hostage deal delays

• The strike is an unprecedented move by the Histadrut, which it avoided taking since Oct. 7 despite pressure and requests from hostage families and some opposition leaders.
• Hostage families hope the strike will help to mobilize mass protests and press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to drop his new demand that Israel Defense Forces remain deployed along the Philadelphi corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border. The condition has become a major sticking point in the negotiations.

Driving the news: The workers union decision came several hours after the IDF announced it recovered the bodies of six hostages from Rafah in southern Gaza.

• The Israeli National Forensic Institute examined the bodies and said in a statement that the hostages were murdered in the last 48 to 72 hours and were shot from close range.
• Israeli officials said at least three of the hostages who were killed were supposed to be released in the first phase of the hostage-release and ceasefire deal that is currently being negotiated, if an agreement would have been reached.
• The general strike will begin on Monday at 6:00 a.m. local time and Ben Gurion International Airport will shut down at 8:00 a.m. local time.
• Many of the country's largest private sector companies announced they will join the strike.

The latest: At an Israeli security cabinet meeting on Sunday night, the commander of the IDF hostages unit, Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, said "the hostages are in immediate danger for their lives. This danger has intensified in recent days."

• Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said, "The hostages have no time. We got proof of that yesterday."
• "Continuing to impose constraints such as the decision on the Philadelphi corridor will result in us not meeting the goals of the war.  The fact that we prioritize the Philadelphi corridor at the cost of the lives of the hostages is a serious moral disgrace," Gallant said at the meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu told Gallant that "after the terrible murder of our hostages, such a step will send a dangerous message to Hamas and will lead to more and more concessions that will endanger Israel's security."

• "There is flexibility in the negotiations, but not on the principle of the Philadelphi corridor which is Hamas' lifeline," he said.

• His close confidant, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer said, "It would be a grave mistake to change the decision from Thursday regarding the Philadelphi corridor."
• "To even talk about it will be a disaster that will incentivize murder. We should exert a very heavy price from Hamas for murdering the hostages. That will make it clear to them that it must not happen again," Dermer said.

What they're saying: "The hostage deal is stuck because of domestic political considerations," the secretary general of the Histadrut Arnon Bar David said at a press conference surrounded by hostage families.

• Bar David said the abandonment of the hostages needs to stop and Israel needs to go back to normal. "We are in vertigo," he said.
• "Instead of a deal, we get body bags. We hope that our intervention might shock those who need to be shocked. I call on the people of Israel to go to the street and sound the cry of the hostages and their families," he said.

Flasback: The last time the Histadrut called for a general strike was in March 2023 after Netanyahu fired Gallant over his opposition to the judicial overhaul.

• The strike was part of a broader pressure campaign that compelled Netanyahu to backtrack and keep Gallant in his position.

What to watch: The hostage families will hold a mass demonstration outside the IDF headquarters on Sunday night.

Editor's note: This story has been updated new details throughout.