'Turning point': Israelis strike and protest to demand Gaza hostage deal

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00:00We're going to talk more about the situation today in Israel with our Jerusalem correspondent

00:03Iris Mackler, who joins me now live.

00:05Iris, first of all, what's the significance of this strike and these protests?

00:10Tell us a bit more about this court decision ordering an end to the strike today.

00:14That's right.

00:15The court has ordered the strike to end half an hour ago.

00:18I just came here to see what the situation is in this street, and everything remains

00:22closed despite that court order, except the church, of course, whose doors are still open

00:27behind me.

00:28But I think people will be slowly going back to work as a result of that court order.

00:32I think the significance of the strike and of the protests is that they show us the level

00:39– something has changed for the Israeli public.

00:42We haven't seen a strike, and we haven't seen protests of this size, hundreds of thousands

00:47on the streets last night, and it was, in a sense, spontaneous, and it was a response

00:52to the news that the six hostages had been found dead.

00:56And I think what you're seeing is a turning point for the public.

01:00You know, will it be a turning point for the politicians?

01:02We have to yet see.

01:03But the public, I think, was horrified because the autopsies showed that these six were killed,

01:09executed basically, being shot in the head at close range, and also because of the notion

01:15that four of the six had the possibility – at least three of the six, but maybe even four

01:20of the six – would have been in the first phase of a negotiated hostage release and

01:26ceasefire deal.

01:27They would have been released.

01:28Now, let's just go back over those dates.

01:30A proposal was put forward in April, Israel put forward a proposal in May, it was adopted

01:35by Joe Biden and the UN Security Council, Hamas agreed to it in July, and nevertheless

01:40there is no deal.

01:43And that, and the fact that in the past two weeks, 13 hostages have been rescued.

01:49That is one rescued alive, 12 returned in body bags.

01:53And those numbers are terrifying for the Israeli public, for the relatives of the hostages.

01:57And I guess what the public is saying now to their politicians is, we want this return

02:03of hostages to be prioritised, it's important to us, and, you know, we want you, the government,

02:11to act on that.

02:12Joe Biden, the US president, said that Hamas pulled the trigger and is plainly to blame

02:18for the death of these six hostages.

02:21I guess what the Israeli public is asking is what role did its own government play?

02:25Indeed.

02:26And as you say, this could really be a turning point for the public in Israel.

02:30But what about the politicians?

02:31And crucially, what about for Benjamin Netanyahu himself?

02:34Could this be a turning point for them?

02:37We don't know the answer to that.

02:39You know, they've been holding pretty steadfast to the line, Benjamin Netanyahu's line and

02:43his right-wing allies as well, that you don't reward Hamas, who's just killed six hostages,

02:50by doing a deal with them, that kind of talk, that these actions during a time of war, these

02:57protests, this strike, it's highly unusual, it's damaging for the public, they call for

03:02it to stop.

03:03But the public is calling on them to act.

03:05And I think you're seeing that rift perhaps for the first time.

03:08It's been a long war, a long, hard war for the people of Gaza, certainly, but for the

03:13people of Israel as well.

03:14We're also seeing an escalation of the border with Lebanon in the West Bank, certainly within

03:20the last six weeks.

03:22And I guess what's being asked here is, is this government carrying out something that

03:26is strategically successful for the state of Israel?

03:30And there are many military, former military, serving military leaders, security service

03:36leaders who are beginning to question that, as well as the public.

03:41Iris, thanks so much for that.

03:42That's the France 24's Jerusalem correspondent, Iris Maclare.

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