As dawn breaks over Israel on Sunday, August 17, 2025, the country stands on the cusp of a rare moment of collective pause. In a coordinated act of protest, families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have called for a nationwide strike, urging citizens, businesses, and institutions to halt their routines and take to the streets. Their demand is simple but profound: pressure the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hamas that will secure the release of the remaining hostages and bring about an immediate ceasefire.
The genesis of this movement stretches back nearly 700 days, to October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched a devastating surprise attack on Israel. According to The Times of Israel, the assault killed about 1,200 people and saw around 250 individuals abducted and taken into Gaza. Since then, the war has raged with unrelenting ferocity, leaving deep scars on both sides of the border. Gaza’s health ministry, run by Hamas, reports that more than 60,000 people have been killed or are presumed dead in the enclave, including thousands of children. These figures, however, do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and their accuracy remains unverified by independent sources.
But for many Israelis, the fate of the hostages has become the human face of the conflict—a cause that transcends political divides and animates public conscience. As of this weekend, Israeli officials believe that 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with roughly 20 thought to be alive. The October 7 Council, alongside other groups representing bereaved families of hostages and fallen soldiers, has declared its intent to "shut down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages." Their rallying cry: “An entire nation has not given up on you. This coming Sunday, the whole nation will stop their lives for you, for your freedom, for the lives of our soldiers.”
The strike is set to begin at 7 a.m., with its first symbolic act taking place at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv—a site that has become a focal point for weekly protests and collective mourning. Demonstrations are planned at dozens of traffic intersections, and convoys of protesters will converge in Tel Aviv for a central rally in the evening. Hundreds of local authorities, businesses, universities, and tech companies have pledged their support. Among them, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University stand out, with the Hebrew University’s leadership writing to students, “We, the members of the university's leadership, deans, and department heads, hereby announce that on Sunday, each and every one of us will participate in a personal strike as a profound expression of solidarity with the hostage families.”
Yet, not all sectors are on board. Israel’s largest labor federation, the Histadrut, has declined to participate in the strike. As reported by The New York Times, Arnon Bar-David, the Histadrut’s leader, explained, “Unfortunately, and although my heart is bursting with anger, it has no practical outcome.” This decision comes despite the union’s participation in a similar strike last September, which ended without any breakthrough in negotiations for the hostages’ release.
At the heart of the protest lies a deep frustration with the government’s current trajectory. Prime Minister Netanyahu has vowed to press into two of the last areas of Gaza not under Israeli military control, signaling an intent to expand the war rather than negotiate. Relatives of the hostages fear that such a move could further endanger their loved ones. As Viki Cohen, whose son Nimrod is being held in Gaza, pleaded in a televised interview earlier this week, “We are asking for the people of Israel to halt on Sunday, not to go to work, not to go about their routines, and to take to the streets.”
The stakes could hardly be higher. Hamas has made clear that it will not release all hostages unless Israel ends the war. Netanyahu, in turn, has insisted that he cannot contemplate ending the conflict while Hamas remains in power. This deadlock has left families of the hostages in an agonizing limbo, their hopes for a negotiated solution repeatedly dashed by the hard lines drawn on both sides.
Saturday evening saw the first wave of public mobilization, with families of hostages calling for demonstrations at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. The event featured emotional addresses from relatives of the abducted and murdered, including Dana Silberman Sitton, sister and aunt of murdered hostages, and Pushpa Joshi, sister of Nepali agricultural volunteer Bipin Joshi, who was abducted from Kibbutz Alumim. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement underscoring the urgency of the moment: “Fifty hostages have been held in Hamas’s death tunnels for nearly 700 days. We have all seen, with our hearts torn, the images of Evyatar David and Rom Breslavsky suffering under unimaginable human torment. Now is the time to act: to take to the streets, support the families of the hostages, support the families of the soldiers, and influence the future of the hostages and the future of the country — because only the people can bring the hostages home.”
As the strike unfolds, its impact remains uncertain. Previous mass mobilizations have failed to sway Netanyahu’s government or alter the fundamental conditions set by Hamas. Yet, the persistence of the families and their supporters speaks to a broader sense of national exhaustion and moral reckoning. In the words of Anat Angrest, Vicky Cohen, and Lishi Miran, who jointly addressed their loved ones in captivity, “The days are long, the nights are even longer. Longing burns the soul. But amidst the pain, hope still beats.”
For many Israelis, this day of action is not just about the hostages. It is a referendum on the direction of the war itself—and on the government’s willingness to listen to the voices of those who have borne its heaviest costs. As convoys of protesters make their way to Tel Aviv and rallies erupt across the country, the message is unmistakable: the fate of the hostages remains at the very center of Israel’s conscience, and the public’s patience for inaction is running thin.
Whatever the immediate outcome, Sunday’s strike marks a watershed moment in the ongoing struggle over Israel’s future, the fate of its captives, and the enduring quest for peace and justice in the region.
