Israel faces general strike after night of protests

Israel is braced for a general strike as protests continue over what is seen as the government’s failure to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Tensions have been running high since the bodies of six hostages were recovered by soldiers on Saturday, causing national outrage.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of people rallied across Israel accusing PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of not doing enough to reach a deal over the remaining hostages taken by Hamas during the 7 October attack.

The call for a one-day strike on Monday was issued by Israel’s biggest labour union, Histadrut, whose leader, Arnon Bar-David, said the country was getting “body bags instead of a deal”.

The government has reacted angrily to the union’s action, with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accusing it of playing into the hands of Hamas.

It is unclear how widely the stoppage will be observed, after several cities and municipalities announced they would not take part.

However, the call for a nationwide strike is the latest sign that public anger at the latest hostage killings is not about to subside.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier that the six bodies were found on Saturday in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.

The hostages were identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt Ori Danino.

The IDF said they had been killed shortly before its troops reached them on Saturday.

This triggered the demonstrations on Sunday, with crowds accusing the government and Mr Netanyahu personally of failing to save the remaining hostages.

Sunday’s protests were largely peaceful – but crowds broke through police lines, blocking a major highway in Tel Aviv.

Some people scaled buses and bins to gain a vantage point over the march, while others surrounded someone wearing a mask of Mr Netanyahu, chanting: “Alive, alive, we want them alive.”

One demonstrator held a sign which read: “You are the head. You are to blame”.

Protesters – many clad in Israeli flags – also descended on Jerusalem and other Israeli cities.

The demonstrations have overshadowed humanitarian efforts in Gaza, where the UN said on Sunday that the first full day of a campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children against polio had been successful.

The rollout relies on a series of localised pauses in fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters, and the first three-day window began on Sunday.

It is not clear how many hostages remain in Gaza. Hamas kidnapped 251 people and killed 1,200 others during its attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

The Israeli military responded by launching a ground and air offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas.

More than 40,738 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.