Families of Israeli hostages call for a nationwide strike against the expansion of the Gaza offensive and demand their release.

A group of families of hostages still held in Gaza has called for a general strike in Israel next Sunday, August 17, to protest the Israeli offensive in the Palestinian enclave and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to seize its capital, a proposal supported by the Israeli opposition.

At a press conference held this Sunday in Tel Aviv, reported by the Israeli press, the families denounced that the plan approved last Friday by the Israeli security cabinet, which includes expanding the offensive and taking control of Gaza City (home to almost a million people) , will only lead to the deaths of the 20 hostages still alive there.

"Next Sunday we will stop and say: 'Enough, stop the war, return the hostages.' It's in our hands," Reut Recht-Edri, whose son Ido Edri was killed by Hamas at the Nova music festival, told the Times of Israel at a press conference.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid supported the proposal in a message on his X account, stating that "the call by the families of the kidnapped to shut down the economy is justified and appropriate."

In addition, left-wing leader Yair Golan announced that his party, the Democratic Party, is joining the strike called by families.

"I call on all citizens of Israel, all those who value life and mutual guarantee, to join us and take to the streets, to fight, " he wrote on his social media account.

He added: "We must not continue with our daily lives without paying attention to our brothers and sisters in Gaza. We cannot remain silent in the face of this reality."

According to Israeli Channel 12 , a meeting is planned for this Monday between the hostages' families and the Federation of Workers' Trade Unions to request the union's support for the strike.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that taking full control of Gaza would be "a disaster foretold of unprecedented gravity," as well as "a headlong rush into a permanent war" that would harm both sides.

"The hostages and the population of Gaza will continue to be the first victims of this strategy," he stressed in a statement published Monday by the Elysee Palace, which insists that the way to end the war now is "a permanent ceasefire."

To that end, and because he asserts that France wants to work "for the security of Israel, the release of the hostages, the resumption of humanitarian action, and support for the Palestinian population," he recalls that what he is proposing is a stabilization mission under a UN mandate.

That proposal, the French president recalls, was established at the conference held last month in New York under the presidency of France and Saudi Arabia, which achieved "for the first time a unanimous call for the disarmament of Hamas and the release of the hostages by regional actors."

Macron insists on two ideas: "No to an Israeli military operation," in a clear allusion to the plan presented last Friday by his Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and "yes to an international coalition under UN mandate to fight terrorism, stabilize Gaza and support its population, and implement governance for peace and stability."

This means the UN Security Council must launch this mission and give it a mandate, since for the French president , "it is the only credible way out of an unacceptable situation" for both the families of the hostages in Israel and the residents of Gaza.

"The only credible path," he concludes, "to begin to emerge from permanent war and rebuild peace and security for all."

Macron said last month that he would formally recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly in September, an announcement intended to enlist other Western countries that have not yet done so, and in parallel, to encourage Arab countries to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel to advance the two-state idea.