(LONDON) — Anti-government demonstrators are gathering in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv for a second day of protests demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conclude a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Hamas.
Street protests are expected to resume across the country on Monday, coinciding with a general strike called by Israel’s largest trade union — Histadrut, or the General Organization of Workers in Israel, which has hundreds of thousands of members — which has caused disruptions to services in some areas of the country.
Airlines operating out of Ben-Gurion International Airport, for example, temporarily halted some flights on Monday morning due to the strike, according to the airport. The union said Sunday the strike was only expected to affect some departing flights. The general strike was expected to last until Monday at about 2:30 p.m. local time, according to union Chairman Arnon Bar-David.
The current wave of demonstrations was sparked by the recovery of the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday — among them American Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The Israel Defense Forces said the captives were killed by militants “shortly” before their discovery.
The killings prompted fury in Israel, where some place blame for the deaths on Netanyahu’s months-long failure to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a statement while expressing his support for the general strike: “They were alive. Netanyahu and the death cabinet decided not to save them. There are still live hostages there, a deal can still be made. Netanyahu is not doing it for political reasons.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meanwhile, posted on X linking the deaths of the six captives to Netanyahu’s reported decision last week to retain military control of the Philadelphi Corridor — the strip of land running along the Gaza-Egypt border — despite Hamas objections. Gallant called for the security cabinet to immediately reverse the decision in order to save the remaining hostages.
Public anger flared on Sunday night with hundreds of thousands of Israelis taking to the streets, with some engaging in clashes with police. Authorities said 29 people were arrested in Tel Aviv, as protesters set fire to barricades and launched fireworks.
Netanyahu blamed Hamas for the continued failure of cease-fire and hostage-release talks.
“Whoever murders hostages – does not want a deal,” the prime minister said in a statement released on Sunday. “Hamas is continuing to steadfastly refuse all proposals.”
“The government of Israel is committed, and I am personally committed, to continue striving toward a deal that will return all of our hostages and ensure our security and our existence,” he added.
Hamas accused Netanyahu of intentionally sabotaging negotiations by adding unacceptable new demands, which it said were “aimed at obstructing reaching an agreement to preserve his power.”
Some of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have pushed back on the protesters’ demands for a deal.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for example, noted in a post on X that he was seeking legal action to break up the general strike. Its organizers, he said, “will not be allowed to turn the country upside down.”
Strikers, he added, “serve the interests of [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar and Hamas.”
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
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