A general strike brought Israel to a halt on Monday following the deaths of six Israeli hostages, sparking widespread outrage. The Israeli military’s failure to recover the hostages alive led to more than 500,000 protesters flooding the streets of Jerusalem.
Many demonstrators expressed deep frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inability to secure a ceasefire deal that could have freed the hostages. Israel’s largest labor union called for a strike and threatened to shut down the entire economy, according to CNN.
Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport temporarily halted flights for over two hours starting at 8 a.m. local time (6 a.m. GMT +1). The strikes, expected to last until early evening, reflect growing dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s leadership.
Over 100 hostages remain in Gaza, with nearly half presumed dead. The stalled ceasefire negotiations, combined with the deaths of the six hostages, have cast serious doubt on whether a ceasefire agreement—including the release of all hostages and the withdrawal of IDF forces from Gaza—will ever be reached.
In Gaza, over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed due to Israeli attacks. In the West Bank, the city of Jenin has been left without food, water, or electricity. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders has accused Israeli forces of obstructing access to health facilities and targeting ambulances.
The Israeli military has also been destroying shops and demolishing streets in the occupied West Bank, preventing thousands of Palestinians from accessing humanitarian aid. Israel’s actions in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been described as potential war crimes. Israel justifies its offensive on Jenin in the West Bank by citing the presence of Hamas fighters in the region.