Israel-Gaza war live: Nationwide general strike in Israel amid public anger over hostage deaths and failed ceasefire talks | Israel-Gaza war

Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, has said his country will “respond with full force” after the discovery of the bodies of six hostages at the weekend who were taken in the 7 October attack by Hamas.

Katz wrote in a post on X:

The Hamas terror organization brutally executed six hostages to instil fear and attempt to fracture Israeli society. Israel will respond with full force to this heinous crime. Hamas is responsible and will pay the full price.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the cause of death had not been officially confirmed, but the Israeli press reported yesterday that the autopsy found all six hostages had been shot in the head.

An unnamed Hamas official was quoted by Agence France-Presse on Sunday as saying the hostages had been “killed by the [Israeli] occupation’s fire and bombing”, a claim denied by the IDF.

Workers at Israel’s main commercial port Haifa have also been on strike, while hospitals have only been partially operating and many banks are not working.

As well as the disruption at Ben Gurion Airport this morning, bus and light rail services in many areas across the country have been cancelled or only partially functioning.

Some services at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, were suspended because of the strike, although incoming flights were still landing.

Departures resumed from the airport at roughly 10am local time, about two hours after they were stopped due to the general strike.

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On Sunday, Israeli media reported the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, had instructed prosecutors to seek an injunction against the general strike.

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, wrote to the attorney general seeking an injunction, arguing that it would harm the economy and had no legal basis as its main aim was to influence government policy on state security.

The Regional Labour Court will hear a request for injunctions at 10:30 local time (08:30 BST) submitted by the Gevurah Forum, which represents some bereaved families of soldiers killed during the war with Hamas and oppose the hostage deal.

According to BBC News, Gevurah Forum’s request states “this is clearly a political strike, blatantly illegal, carried out in a bullying manner”.

Here is some more on the general strike protests in Israel today. Over 1,000 people have now gathered at the Ra’anana Junction, north of Tel Aviv, according to Times of Israel reporters.

Hundreds of protesters are blocking Namir Road in Tel Aviv, while dozens of protesters have reportedly gathered at Karkur Junction in northern Israel.

Demonstrators, some of whom are waving hostage solidarity flags and chanting anti-government statements, are out in force today to heap pressure on the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to reach a ceasefire deal to bring the remaining hostages home.

In an earlier post, we reported a suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeting a ship in the Red Sea earlier today. We have some more detail on this now.

Two projectiles hit the vessel, and a third explosion occurred near the ship, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre has said.

“Damage control is underway,” the UKMTO said. “There are no casualties onboard and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call.”

The timing of the attack and coordinates offered by the UKMTO corresponded to the reported path of the Panama-flagged oil tanker Blue Lagoon I, now travelling south through the Red Sea to an unlisted destination, according to the Associated Press.

The Blue Lagoon I was coming from Russia’s port of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea and had been broadcasting that it had Russian-origin cargo on board.

The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack. They have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since Israel’s war in Gaza started in October, claiming they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.

The UN agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) has said 87,000 children in Gaza have received the first dose of a polio vaccine.

“Efforts are ongoing to provide children with this key vaccine, but what they need most is a ceasefire now,” the agency wrote in a post on X as the vaccination campaign continues for a second day.

Unrwa, the main channel for humanitarian support for Palestinians, said the polio vaccine is “key” to children’s health, but stressed that what they need most is an immediate ceasefire.

The vaccinations are meant to be accompanied by three-day pauses in the fighting in several areas of the territory to allow the inoculation of more than 640,000 children. But despite this pledge, there were numerous reports of Israeli airstrikes killing Palestinian people in Gaza on Sunday.

The World Health Organization believes that 90% of children under 10 in Gaza must be immunised for the campaign to be effective.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a hostage family organisation, announced more than a dozen protest locations around the country, where demonstrators are expected to block traffic and demand that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, agrees a hostage release deal. The locations are mostly major roads and intersections around Tel Aviv and the north.

Of the 250 Israeli hostages seized on 7 October, eight have been rescued and more than 100 were released in an earlier temporary ceasefire deal in November. The discovery of the six bodies of the hostages at the weekend leaves 101 hostages still unaccounted for in Gaza. The IDF has confirmed 35 of them are known to have died during the more than 10 months of captivity.

Police are holding 25 protesters arrested yesterday evening in Tel Aviv, with some of them still being questioned, the Israel daily Haaretz reported.

Several demonstrators were injured by the police, including one who was allegedly beaten by officers in the chest and head and a man who was struck in the back by a stun grenade, Haaretz reported a doctors’ protest group as having said.

Protestors block roads in Israel as general strike begins