Israel's largest trade union called a general strike for Monday to pressure the government for a cease-fire in Gaza after the bodies of six hostages were recovered from the war-torn territory.
Trade union The Histadrut represents around 800,000 workers in areas such as health care, transportation and banking.
The union said the strike would include the international airport, with all flights halted.
The strike is aimed at persuading Israel's government to reach a deal to bring home the remaining hostages.
A forum of hostage families demanded a "complete halt of the country" to push for the implementation of a cease-fire and hostage release.
"A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for over two months. Were it not for the delays, sabotage, and excuses those whose deaths we learned about this morning would likely still be alive," it said in a statement.
This would be the first general strike since the Hamas attack on October 7.
A new wave of protests was set to begin on Sunday evening in Israel, fueled by raw anger and grief.
Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for failing to bring the hostages back alive in a deal with Hamas to end the 10-month-old war.
Negotiations over such a deal have dragged on for months.
The military said all six hostages had been killed shortly before the arrival of Israeli forces.
Netanyahu said Israel would hold Hamas accountable for killing the hostages in "cold blood," and blamed the militant group for the stalled negotiations, saying "whoever murders hostages doesn't want a deal."
Militants seized Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, and four of the other hostages at a music festival in southern Israel during Hamas' October 7 attack, which triggered the war.
The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack.
In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him alive but with his left hand missing, sparking new protests in Israel urging the government to do more to secure the hostages' release.
The army identified the other dead hostages as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33; who were also taken from the music festival.
The sixth, Carmel Gat, 40, was abducted from the nearby farming community of Be'eri.
It said the bodies were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, around a kilometre from where another hostage, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was rescued alive last week.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesperson, said the army believed there were hostages in the area but had no specific intelligence.
He said Israeli forces found the bodies several dozen meters underground as "ongoing combat" was underway, but that there was no firefight in the tunnel itself.
He said there was no doubt that Hamas had killed them.
Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.
Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a US-backed cease-fire proposal that Hamas said it had agreed to back in July.
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and says military pressure is needed to bring home the hostages.
US President Joe Biden, who has met with Goldberg-Polin's parents, said he was "devastated and outraged."
"It is as tragic as it is reprehensible," he said. "Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages."
Vice President Kamala Harris said her prayers were with the Goldberg-Polin family and condemned Hamas.
Goldberg-Polin's parents became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage.
They met with Biden, Pope Francis and others and addressed the United Nations, urging the release of all hostages.
On August 21, his parents addressed a hushed hall at the Democratic National Convention — after sustained applause and chants of "bring him home."
Some 250 hostages were taken on October 7. Israel now believes that 101 remain in captivity, including 35 who are believed to be dead.
More than 100 were freed during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces.
Two previous Israeli operations to free hostages killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they stormed into southern Israel on October 7, attacking army bases and several farming communities.
Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were fighters.
It has displaced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and plunged the besieged territory into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
