Protests were sparked after the Israel Defence Forces said the bodies of six Israeli hostages were found and recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Saturday. More demonstrations are set for Monday.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to demand a ceasefire after six hostages were found ‘murdered’ in Gaza.
An estimated 500,000 people attended planned demonstrations in multiple cities across Israel, according to Hostage Families Forum, which organised protests.
It is believed to be the largest demonstration since the start of the war 11 months ago.
More than 300,000 people were in Tel Aviv, where protesters marched with coffins to symbolise the hostages who had been killed and others set fires in the middle of one of the city’s main motorways, bringing it to a standstill.
Protests were sparked after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the bodies of Carmel Gat, 40, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Alexander Lobanov, 33, Almog Sarusi, 27, and Ori Danino, 25, were found and recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Saturday.
The Israeli Health Ministry said post mortem examinations had determined the hostages had been shot at close range and died on Thursday or Friday.
IDF Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said the bodies were discovered several dozen meters underground while “ongoing combat” was taking place, but that there was no firefight in the tunnel itself.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of killing all six hostages in “cold blood” and said Israel would hold the group accountable.
He also accused the group of scuttling ongoing ceasefire efforts, adding: “Whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal.”
Meanwhile, Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, blamed the hostages’ deaths on Israel and the US, saying they would still be alive if Israel had accepted a ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it had agreed to back in July.
He did not mention the hostages by name.
All six were abducted by Hamas on 7 October, Ms Gat from the farming community of Be’eri and the others from a nearby music festival.
Critics in Israel, including some protesters, have accused Mr Netanyahu of prioritising politics above the hostages and putting conditions into potential ceasefire deals that Hamas will never agree to.
The leader of the country’s biggest trade union also announced a one-day general strike from today as a way to put pressure on Mr Netanyahu’s government.
Arnon Bar-David, head of the Histadrut union, said the country’s main Ben Gurion Airport would close at 8am local time, with universities, manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector expected to join hundreds of thousands of workers in the walkout.
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said the general strike had no legal basis as he called on the attorney general to submit an urgent request to the court to block the industrial action.
In a letter to Gali Baharav-Miara, he said the strike would have significant and unnecessary consequences on the economy during a time of war.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, who has clashed frequently with Mr Netanyahu, was one of those who called for a ceasefire agreement, and opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid urged people to join a demonstration in Tel Aviv.
Speaking from Tel Aviv, Sky News’ Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall said protesters had turned from pleading for the government to agree to a hostage deal to expressing anger.
Israeli police said about 24 people have been arrested nationwide after demonstrations, according to the Reuters news agency.