President Biden and Vice President Harris plan to meet in the White House Situation Room on Monday along with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team after the murder of six hostages, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, by Hamas on Saturday.
The White House said the focus of the meeting is to discuss efforts to drive toward a deal that secures the release of the remaining hostages. The meeting is also closed to the press.
Mobs of protesters took to the streets in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities on Sunday after the bodies of the hostages in Gaza were returned to Israel, fueling frustration and anger toward the country’s leadership for failing to achieve a cease-fire deal freeing the remaining hostages.
Israeli media reported that the crowds of protesters were estimated to be up to 500,000 in major Israeli cities. Many of the protesters demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do more to bring home the remaining 101 hostages.
Reuters reported that Israel’s leadership estimates that nearly a third of the remaining hostages are dead.
While protests remained strong on Sunday, labor leaders called on workers to be part of a one-day strike Monday.
“We are getting body bags instead of a deal,” Histadrut Labor Federation chief Arnon Bar-David said to reporters on Sunday, according to Reuters. “We must reach a deal. A deal is more important than anything else.”
The Histadrut Labor Federation is Israel’s main labor union that represents hundreds of thousands of workers. Bar-David’s call for a one-day strike was supported by manufacturers and tech entrepreneurs in the country.
Israel’s military announced that the bodies of hostages 40-year-old Carmel Gat, 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 24-year-old Eden Yerushalmi, 32-year-old Alexander Lobanov, 27-year-old Almog Sarusi and 25-year-old Ori Danino were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
