Live Updates: Hourslong Strike in Israel Lays Bare Anger Over Hostage Killings

The strike came a day after the Israeli military announced that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza, the latest captives to be found dead nearly 11 months after their abductions in the Hamas-led attacks that touched off the war.

Disruptions were widespread, even as the strike’s effects appeared to be limited in some sectors. Many schools and banks and some municipal offices closed or cut services. Departing flights were disrupted as workers went on strike at Ben-Gurion International Airport, the nation’s largest, while stevedores stopped unloading merchant ships. And medical staff at several hospitals cut back some non-urgent services.

But many municipalities continued work as normal, according to the representative body for local authorities, and some transport services returned by the afternoon. Some workers appeared reluctant to engage in a complete strike, while others rejected the premise of the strike altogether.

Here are the latest developments:

National fury: The brief work stoppage reflected the national outpouring of grief, anger and protest after the bodies of the six hostages were recovered in Gaza over the weekend. Advocates for the hostages and critics of Mr. Netanyahu argued that a cease-fire agreement could have saved their lives. Huge street protests across Israel erupted on Sunday night in which hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, according to organizers, called for a hostage release and a cease-fire.

Netanyahu’s calculations: The last strike on this scale, in March 2023, succeeded in forcing Israel’s prime minister to halt his deeply contentious effort to overhaul Israel’s judicial system. But his coalition partners generally oppose a compromise with Hamas, and Mr. Netanyahu has refused to agree to a truce that would involve Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza or lead to a permanent halt to the fighting, saying that either move could allow Hamas to survive and endanger Israel’s long-term security. Hamas has also refused to compromise, saying that it will not release more hostages without a permanent cease-fire.

Cease-fire talks: The Biden administration has mounted diplomatic pressure to break a deadlock in the negotiations involving Israel, Hamas and Egyptian and Qatari mediators. President Biden and Vice President Harris were scheduled to meet at the White House on Monday morning with the team representing the United States in the talks.

Hostages killed: The Israeli military said on Sunday that the six bodies found in Gaza were those of hostages who had been “brutally murdered” by Hamas. The Israeli Health Ministry later said that a forensic examination showed the hostages had been shot at close range. Hamas claimed, without providing evidence, that the hostages had been killed by the Israeli military. A funeral for one of hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli American dual citizen whose parents were among the most prominent campaigners for their release, was set for Monday in Jerusalem.

Polio in Gaza: Polio vaccinations continued for a second day in Gaza, after the Gazan Health Ministry said that more than 72,600 children had been vaccinated on Sunday in the central part of the territory. (United Nations agencies gave a higher figure, saying that nearly 87,000 had received the vaccine.) After Gaza last month recorded its first polio case in 25 years, Israeli forces and Hamas agreed to brief pauses in fighting to allow for a staggered, three-phase vaccination drive.

In his eulogy, President Herzog expressed remorse that Israel had failed to protect Goldberg-Polin during the Hamas-led attacks last October and to bring him home alive. “I ask you for forgiveness,” he said.

In Rehovot’s main street, several hundred protesters marched, many holding Israeli flags, others with yellow flags and yellow balloons. Most of the shops and cafes were closed. Almost all displayed posters of Nimrod Cohen, a soldier from Rehovot who was taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attacks and remains captive in Gaza.

In Jerusalem, signs of the strike were less apparent, with many markets, restaurants and stores open.

At Mahane Yehuda, a large open-air market in the city, nut purveyors, fruit and vegetable hawkers and bakeries were serving customers. Only a few shops were closed.

Yaakov Levi, 60, an owner of a wine store, said he identified with the protests in support of freeing the hostages and agreed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hadn’t done enough to secure their freedom. But he argued that striking was ineffectual.

“Shutting down the market won’t change the opinion of the government’s decision makers,” he said, surrounded by bottles of wine from Israel and abroad. “It will only make us as business owners suffer.”

The war, Mr. Levi said, had already exacted a major cost from businesses, especially with so many Israelis serving as reservists in Gaza.

Down the street at Nocturno, a popular restaurant, people were sipping hot coffee and biting into tomato-and-cucumber salads and shakshuka, eggs cooked in tomato sauce.

Near Mr. Netanyahu’s residence, dozens of protesters hoisted Israeli flags and signs bearing photos of hostages.

Shai Leifer, 37, a director of a Hebrew-language education program, said she was skipping work on Monday to demand that Mr. Netanyahu bring the hostages home.

“I came today to scream for the hostages,” she said. “We’ve had enough. We’re tired of it.”

A few dozen demonstrators also gathered near Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the Israeli communities hit hardest in the Oct. 7 attacks. Carmel Gat, one of the six Israeli hostages whose bodies were brought back from Gaza over the weekend, was abducted from Be’eri along with her sister-in-law Yarden; her mother, Kinneret, was killed. One of the demonstrators on Monday carried a sign begging forgiveness from Ms. Gat for Israel’s failure to save her.

In the city of Ra’anana in central Israel, dozens of protesters blocked a major intersection, holding signs bearing the faces of hostages. Tal Mayzels Atlas, an activist at the junction, shared a video of the protest showing Ruth Strum, the mother of hostages Yair and Eitan Horn addressing Israel’s leaders through a megaphone.

“I want my sons back,” she says in the video. “Why are you doing this to us? Bring them all back, now.”

The Histadrut union has said it will abide by the court’s decision. The strike will officially end in a few minutes.

Its purpose in its early decades was both to serve the needs of workers at a time of Jewish immigration to what was then British-administered Palestine, and to lay the groundwork for the foundation of Israel as a state. It helped to establish the industrial, financial and economic institutions from which the nation emerged in 1948. The union’s leader in the early years, David Ben-Gurion, became Israel’s first prime minister.

The organization, the largest of its kind in Israel, now represents about 800,000 workers from 27 separate unions, according to its website. Its chairman, Arnon Bar-David, has held the post since 2019.

Mr. Bar-David, a longtime member of the union who also served as a major in the military reserves, in early 2023 joined other union chiefs, business leaders and military reservists to oppose a plan put in place by Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right government to limit the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down decisions by elected officials.

Histadrut organized a major strike that — along with disquiet in the military and mass protests that destabilized the economy — contributed to one of the biggest domestic upheavals in Israel in decades. The unrest prompted Mr. Netanyahu to suspend the judicial plan.

The deadly attack led by Hamas on Israel months later, and the ensuing Israeli military offensive in Gaza, moved the judicial issue to the background. But Histadrut again showed its influence by calling for the general strike on Monday, which, along with large street demonstrations the night before calling for a deal to free hostages from Gaza, amounted to the broadest expression of anti-government dissent since the war began.

A resident of Jenin reached by phone, Omar Obeid, 62, said he had fled the city Sunday evening with his children and many of his neighbors, walking through damaged streets. Eventually, they reached a relative’s home in nearby Ya’abad. “We tried to take a path that would avoid the army, but we still were risking our lives,” he said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said that 29 people had been killed across the occupied West Bank since the raids began last Wednesday. It said those killed included five minors. Militant groups have claimed some of the dead as members.

U.N. agencies and others are attempting to vaccinate nearly 640,000 children under 10 in a three-phase campaign, after Gaza last month recorded its first polio case in 25 years. Israeli forces and Hamas have agreed to pause fighting for several hours each day in the areas where vaccinations are going on.

Ben-Gurion International Airport

Workers at Ben-Gurion International Airport, the nation’s largest, went on strike for part of the day, reducing the number of departing flights. Shortly after noon local time (5 a.m. Eastern), a spokesperson for the airport said departures had resumed.

Public transit

Egged, Israel’s largest public bus transit company, said services were disrupted as some employees walked off. The company itself was not on strike, but some of its drivers were members of the Histadrut union, which is spearheading the work stoppage, said Inbal Klein Sova, an Egged spokeswoman.

Staff of the Jerusalem light rail network walked off the job in the morning, but the network said shortly after noon that it had returned to regular operations.

Schools

Thousands of primary schools ended their classes at 11:45 a.m. as a result of the strike, according to Gali Gabay, a media consultant for the Israel Teachers’ Union. Teachers were not striking, but other staff members stayed home, forcing the schools to close early, Ms. Gabay said.

Banks

Bank Hapoalim, one of the largest banks in Israel, said it was joining the strike and closed its branches on Monday. It said online transactions could still be made and that its telephone banking service was working in a limited capacity.

Bank Leumi, another major bank chain, took a similar approach.

Hospitals

Some hospitals have reduced non-urgent and outpatient services, while maintaining full emergency treatment and care for urgent cases. “We never, ever have a full-scale strike where we close the hospital — that would never happen,” said David Ratner, a spokesman for Rambam Medical Center, a major hospital in northern Israel.

Two hospitals in Jerusalem run by the Hadassah Medical Center have not joined the strike. “We don’t want to make it difficult for people who have been waiting weeks for appointments,” said Hadar Elboim, a spokeswoman for the hospitals.

Municipalities

Most local municipalities in Israel have chosen not to join the strike, according to Sivan Bahat, the spokeswoman for the Federation of Local Authorities. The decision not to strike, or to participate only partially, stemmed largely from a desire to avoid disruption to the education system a day after schools reopened following the summer break, she said. Tel Aviv City Hall was striking until noon, while Jerusalem’s municipal services were working as usual.

Instead of striking, many local councils are holding special sessions in solidarity with the families of hostages still held in Gaza, inviting the relatives of captives to come and speak at council meetings marking the day of protest.

Haifa port

Workers at the Haifa port, one of the five major ports in Israel, have joined the strike. They have stopped loading and unloading ships at the port until this evening, according to Zohar Rom, a spokesman for the Haifa Port Company. The effect of the strike will be limited unless it extends into a second day, Rom said.

Entertainment companies

Several entertainment companies have joined the strike, including Israel’s largest zoo, the Ramat Gan Safari, and the Batsheva Dance Company, a world-famous dance troupe that shut its offices in Tel Aviv.

At noon local time, Israel’s Supreme Court will hear a separate petition against the strike by a group representing some pro-government families of hostages in Gaza.

That standoff has prompted fury among many Israelis who want the hostages to be released even if it keeps Hamas in power in Gaza, fearing that the hostages will most likely die if they stay in the enclave for much longer.

The dispute reached a crescendo over the weekend after that fear came to pass: The Israeli military said it had found the bodies of six hostages who were killed recently by their captors as Israeli soldiers advanced toward the underground jail where they were held. Israel’s health ministry said that a forensic examination showed the hostages had been shot at close range sometime between Thursday and Friday morning.

Hamas said in a statement that the hostages were killed by the Israeli military.

It was unclear what effect, if any, the protests and planned strikes would have on Mr. Netanyahu. His right-wing base and far-right coalition allies say that it is better to avoid what they see as a flawed cease-fire deal, even if it would save the lives of some of the hostages. Some members of Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition have threatened to collapse the government if the deal goes ahead, and only one senior minister, Yoav Gallant, has pressed for an agreement.

Still, the last strike on this scale, in March 2023, succeeded in forcing Mr. Netanyahu to halt his deeply contentious effort to overhaul Israel’s judicial system. Seventeen months later, protesters hoped to achieve a similar result.

Roughly 250 people were abducted and taken to Gaza during Hamas’s raid on Israel at the start of the war on Oct. 7.

More than 100 of them were freed in a temporary cease-fire in November, while eight have been rescued alive during Israeli rescue operations that have cost the lives of hundreds of Palestinians.

The bodies of several hostages have also been found and repatriated by the Israeli military. Israeli soldiers shot and killed three others in December, after the hostages waved a white flag.

More than 60 living hostages, and the bodies of about 35 other hostages believed to be dead, are still in Gaza, according to the Israeli authorities.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli police fired skunk water, a noxious crowd control weapon, and forcefully removed a crowd of hundreds who rallied at the city’s main entrance. In smaller cities too, including Rehovot, in central Israel, people blocked traffic and chanted, “We want them back living, not in coffins!”

The national uproar built on months of protests and increasingly aggressive actions by the families of many hostages, who have been attempting to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to accept a deal to little avail.

The frustration of the families, who have accused Mr. Netanyahu of sacrificing their loved ones for his own political gain, appeared to reach a boiling point on Sunday after the Israeli military said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages killed in Gaza. The Israeli health ministry said they had been shot at close range sometime between Thursday and Friday morning.

Their blood was on the hands of the Israeli government, said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that represents some of the relatives, and it called on the public to “bring the nation to a halt.”

The message was echoed by Israel’s largest labor union, which declared a strike beginning Monday morning, and by Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader.

The Families Forum said hundreds of thousands of people were protesting around the country on Sunday evening, but it was not possible to verify the figure. The Israeli police declined to provide any estimates of crowd sizes.

More protests were planned for Monday, the Families Forum said on social media.

Several family members of the hostages directed their anger squarely at Mr. Netanyahu as they agitated for public action.

“Whoever accepts the murder of civilians for the Prime Minister should stay home,” Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was one of the hostages found dead over the weekend, said on the social media platform X. “Those who don’t: in memory of Carmel, take to the streets — stop the abandonment, bring the state to a halt, get a deal.”

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son Sagui is still held in Gaza, said in an interview that Mr. Netanyahu was “not only endangering our national security by refusing to complete this negotiated settlement, he’s also tearing apart this country by its seams. The country is aware that this government doesn’t exist for the service of the country but the service of itself.”

In Tel Aviv, where some of the largest crowds gathered, tensions escalated as night fell. Protesters blocked the main highway, pushed through security barricades and lit bonfires in the streets while the Israeli police carried out violent detentions and fired water cannons into the crowd. Naama Lazimi, a member of the Israeli Parliament, said on social media that the police had also thrown stun grenades at a close range, knocking her to the ground.

After hours of demonstrations, the Israeli police said it had arrested 29 people in Tel Aviv and cleared the highway. Five protesters were also arrested in Jerusalem, and two in Haifa, according to police officials.

Protesters expressed a mix of grief and rage, many carrying photos of the hostages and waving yellow ribbons in solidarity.

Shiraz Angert, a 23-year-old design student who was protesting in Jerusalem, wore a shirt bearing the photo of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the hostages whose bodies were recovered on Saturday. “It was possible to save them in a deal,” she said. “These are people who were sacrificed because we didn’t do enough.”

In Tel Aviv, Dan Levinson, a 59-year-old high school teacher, said he hoped the night’s protest would be a watershed moment.

“I feel that tonight is the last chance for a turning point — people out in the streets tonight understand that what we have not been able to achieve so far into the war, we will not be able to ever reach unless a decision is made,” he said.

“If it does not happen now,” he added, “it never will.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group of their relatives, identified the dead as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino. It also provided ages.

More than 60 living hostages, and the bodies of about 35 other hostages believed to be dead, are still in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

Here is what we know about the six whose deaths were confirmed on Sunday.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23

Mr. Goldberg-Polin was a dual Israeli American citizen who was taken hostage from the festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7. His mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, had traveled the world since, advocating the release of the hostages.

“Hersh is a happy-go-lucky, laid-back, good-humored, respectful and curious person,” she said last month, when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention with her husband, Jon.

“He is a civilian,” she added. “He loves soccer, is wild about music and music festivals, and he has been obsessed with geography and travel since he was a little boy.”

Mr. Goldberg-Polin was born in Berkeley, Calif. His family moved to Israel when he was in elementary school. Grievously injured during the attack, Mr. Goldberg-Polin lost part of his left arm and was last seen in a video released by Hamas in April.

President Biden was among those who expressed condolences to Mr. Goldberg-Polin’s family. “I am devastated and outraged,” Mr. Biden said in a statement, adding, “He planned to travel the world.”

Carmel Gat, 40

Ms. Gat lived in Tel Aviv but was staying at her parents’ house in Be’eri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border, when she was taken hostage on Oct. 7. Her mother, Kinneret Gat, was killed in the attacks.

“Carmel was an occupational therapist, full of compassion and love, always finding ways to support and help others,” the forum wrote in a post on X. “She loved solo travel, meeting new people, live rock music concerts, and was particularly fond of Radiohead.”

Haaretz published a profile of Ms. Gat in January that said her closest friends had been holding regular yoga classes in her honor in Tel Aviv in what has become known as “Hostage Square.”

They also created a Spotify playlist of her favorite songs, Haaretz reported, calling it “a humorous, eclectic mix.”

“I remember us coming back to the kibbutz on weekends, putting music on and dancing,” Adi Zohar, a classmate, told the news outlet. “That’s her. Making a party out of things. Taking it easy.”

On Sunday, a cousin, Gil Dickmann, posted a photograph on X of a young Ms. Gat, wearing a pink shirt and holding a young baby, grinning at the camera. “Sorry Carmeli,” he wrote, adding, “If only you saw how your friends fought to get you back alive.”

Alexander Lobanov, 32

Mr. Lobanov, who went by Alex, lived in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, according to the forum.

It said that he was working as a bar manager at the festival when the attack began and that witnesses said Mr. Lobanov helped evacuate people.

He and his wife, Michal, had two children: Tom, who is 2, and Kai, who is 5 months old and was born when Mr. Lobanov was in captivity in Gaza, Haaretz reported.

Mr. Lobanov also held Russian citizenship, according to Russia’s ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov.

“We mourn together with the entire family,” he said in a statement.

Ori Danino, 25

Ori Danino was from Jerusalem and was planning to study electrical engineering, Haaretz reported.

The oldest of five children, Mr. Danino had escaped the music festival but had gone back to help other people when he was captured, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on X.

“He was a fighter,” his partner, Liel Avraham, said on Israeli radio after learning of his death, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday. She called him a “hero” who “excelled in everything he did.”

Ms. Avraham had posted about Mr. Danino on social media during his captivity. On April 7, she shared a picture of him kissing her on Instagram and in the caption teased him for losing to her at Backgammon and for letting his morning alarm ring.

Four weeks ago, she posted a photo of the two of them with the caption: “I’m waiting for you.”

Almog Sarusi, 27

Mr. Sarusi was from Ra’anana, a city north of Tel Aviv, according to Haaretz. It said he was at the music festival with his longtime girlfriend and had stayed by her side after she was wounded in the attack.

She died, and he was captured.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum described him on X as “a vibrant, positive person who loved traveling around Israel in his white jeep with his guitar.”

Eden Yerushalmi, 24

Ms. Yerushalmi was “a vibrant young woman with many friends and hobbies,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on X. “Eden loved spending summer days at the beach playing paddleball, attending parties, and was studying to become a Pilates instructor.”

In November, Ms. Yerushalmi’s sisters lit candles for her in New York City at the gravesite of a major spiritual leader in Judaism. They giggled at the time, trying to explain her nickname — “Opossum” — an old inside joke the sisters could no longer recall. Relatives of Ms. Yerushalmi had also traveled to Paris and Washington to press for the release of the hostages.

In a video posted in April, Ms. Yerushalmi’s sisters said she was a waitress in Tel Aviv who loved to make TikTok videos, rode a motorcycle and was “always the life of the party.”

“She’s very friendly,” they said in another video, posted in July. “She lives life to the fullest.”

Aaron Boxerman, Gabby Sobelman and Myra Noveck contributed reporting.

“They were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” Admiral Hagari said.

Israel’s health ministry said later on Sunday that a forensic examination showed the hostages had been shot at close range sometime between Thursday and Friday morning.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “shocked to the depths” of his soul by what he called the “coldblooded murder” of the hostages.

“The heart of the entire nation is torn,” he said in a statement.

In an initial statement, Hamas did not directly address the accusations, but said responsibility for the deaths lay with Israel, which it blamed for the lack of an agreement to stop the fighting in Gaza. Hamas later claimed in a separate statement, without providing evidence, that the hostages were killed by the Israeli military’s bullets.

Some people in Israel also angrily blamed the government for the deaths, calling for protests over the government’s inability to secure a deal to bring the hostages home.

Israeli military officials had said on Saturday that six bodies were found during a military operation, without specifying whether they were hostages’ bodies.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said Sunday on CNN that the grim discovery was not the result of a “specific mission to release hostages,” but that Israeli forces had “some idea of hostages being held in the area.”

The dead were identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino. They ranged in age from 23 to 40, according to a group representing families of hostages.

Five of those captured had been at a dance music festival in southern Israel. The sixth, Ms. Gat, was taken from the nearby village of Be’eri.

Before the Israeli military’s announcement, President Biden issued a statement saying that Israel had found the bodies of six hostages, identifying one as Mr. Goldberg-Polin, a dual Israeli American citizen whose parents had campaigned around the world for the release of the captives.

“I am devastated and outraged. Hersh was among the innocents brutally attacked while attending a music festival for peace in Israel,” Mr. Biden said. “He lost his arm helping friends and strangers during Hamas’s savage massacre. He had just turned 23.”

Mr. Biden vowed to keep working toward an agreement to secure the release of the hostages. But he also issued a warning: “Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes.”

Mr. Goldberg-Polin was among the roughly 250 people who were abducted by Hamas and its allies during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He was last seen in a video released by Hamas in April.

On Sunday, the Goldberg-Polin family confirmed his death “with broken hearts.”

The Israeli military said that the bodies of the six hostages were returned to Israeli territory.

More than 60 living hostages, and the bodies of about 35 other hostages believed to be dead, are still in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

Adam Rasgon contributed reporting.