Einav Zangauker says nationwide strike tomorrow ‘only the beginning’

Einav Zangauker, mother of Hamas-held hostage Matan Zangauker, says a nationwide strike tomorrow for a hostage deal is “only the beginning.”

She makes the remarks at a rally on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road for the release of the hostages.

“Tomorrow morning we’ll stop the country,” says Zangauker, one of the most outspoken activists for a hostage deal. She says the strike will be both for the 50 hostages still held in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are thought to be alive and 28 confirmed dead, and the soldiers fighting in Gaza.

“We’ll stop the country tomorrow for our lives here, for our children, for the state of Israel,” she says. “We can’t take any more.”

The strike is endorsed by a range of local authorities, universities, companies, and unions, including the chair of the airport employees’ union. It is not endorsed by the powerful Histadrut labor union.

“Tomorrow is only the beginning,” Zangauker says. “We’ve stopped waiting for [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to stop the war when it’s convenient for him politically.”

“We demand quiet, security, a future, and the end of the war in a comprehensive deal,” she says.