Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport closed for two hours on Monday morning as part of a general strike to pressure the government to sign a Gaza ceasefire that would free Israeli hostages.
It comes after hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand a halt to the fighting in Gaza following the recovery of the bodies of six hostages from the war-torn territory.
Crowds estimated by Israeli media to number up to 500,000 strong demonstrated in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do more to bring home the remaining 101 hostages, about of a third of whom Israeli officials estimate have died.
Trade union The Histadrut, which represents around 800,000 workers, said it aimed to shut down or disrupt major sectors of the economy, including banking, health care and the country's main airport, to put pressure on Israel’s government.
Thousands of people, some of them weeping, gathered on Sunday night outside Mr Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem while in Tel Aviv hostages' relatives marched with coffins to symbolise the toll.
A forum of hostage families demanded a "complete halt of the country" to push for the implementation of a ceasefire 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.
The Hostages Families Forum said the death of the six hostages was the direct result of Netanyahu's failure to secure a deal to halt the fighting and bring their loved ones home.
"They were all murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture and starvation in Hamas captivity," the group said in a statement.
Netanyahu's office said he had spoken to the family of Alexander Lobanov, whose body was among those recovered, apologising and expressing "deep sorrow".
But the family of another hostage, Carmel Gat, said they had refused to speak to Mr Netanyahu, and instead called on Israelis to join protests.
Monday’s industrial action will be the first general strike since the Hamas attack on October 7.
Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main air transport hub, was closed for two hours from 8am (0500 GMT) on Monday while municipal services in Israel's economic hub Tel-Aviv were also shutting for part of Monday.
Israel's Manufacturers' Association said it backed the strike and accused the government of failing in its "moral duty" to bring the hostages back alive.
"Without the return of the hostages we will not be able to end the war, we will not be able to rehabilitate ourselves as a society and we will not be able to begin to rehabilitate the Israeli economy," said association head Ron Tomer.
Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid earlier threw his support behind the strike action.
Many Israelis blame Mr 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.
Mr 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 metres 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 ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it had agreed to back in July.
Mr 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 Mr 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.
Mr Goldberg-Polin's parents became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage.
They met with Mr 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 ceasefire 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.
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