The head of the main Israeli workers’ federation (Histadrut), Arnon Bar-David, announced yesterday a protest because “an agreement is more important than anything else.”

The strike, whose first phase will last only 24 hours, began at 06:00 local time and started to spread in Israel, including the closure of the Ben Gurion International Airport two hours later. Various national television stations reported street closures and marches in several cities in the country.

The unions of lawyers, health, education and many other sectors promised to support the measure, although others avoided speaking out or refused to join.

The call by Histadrut enraged the most radical sector of the Government, including the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, who described the strike as illegal and an endorsement of Hamas’ positions, and called on the Ombudsman’s Office to present precautionary measures against the protest to justice.

The campaign in favor of an exchange has been led for months by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum.

National tension and indignation escalated yesterday after learning that the Army recovered the bodies of six Israeli prisoners in Gaza, which caused hundreds of thousands of people to march in the capital in the afternoon to demand an exchange.

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