Relatives of Hamas prisoners say that expanding the offensive and taking control of Gaza City will only lead to the deaths of the 20 Israelis still in captivity there.
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A group of families of the hostages still held in Gaza called for a general strike in Israel on August 17 to protest against the Israeli offensive in the Palestinian enclave and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to take its capital, a proposal supported by the Israeli opposition, according to the EFE news agency.
At a press conference held this Sunday in Tel Aviv, the families denounced that the plan approved last Friday by the Israeli security cabinet, which includes expanding the offensive and taking control of Gaza City (home to almost a million people), will only lead to the death of the 20 hostages still alive there.
Next Sunday we will stop and say: 'Enough, stop the war, return the hostages. It is in our hands,' said Reut Recht-Edri, whose son Ido Edri was killed by Hamas at the Nova music festival, according to the Times of Israel.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid seconded the proposal in a message on his X account, in which he stated that the call by the families of the kidnapped to shut down the economy is justified and appropriate.
In addition, left-wing leader Yair Golan announced that his party, the Democratic Party, is joining the strike called by the families."I call on all citizens of Israel, all those who value life and mutual guarantee, to join us and take to the streets to fight," he wrote on his social media account.
The Democratic leader added:"We must not continue with our daily lives without paying attention to our brothers and sisters in Gaza. We cannot remain silent in the face of this reality."
