Hundreds of Israeli protesters began blocking traffic on Monday morning, launching a nationwide general strike to demand that the government agree to a prisoner swap with Hamas.

Wide sectors of the Israeli economy are expected to be closed or disrupted for the day, including public transport and Ben-Gurion airport after the Histadrut, Israel's largest labor and trade union, called a one-day strike. Hospitals, pharmacies and other essential services are expected to remain open.

Meanwhile, the government filed an injunction at the National Labor Court on Monday morning against the general strike.

On Sunday evening, around 30 people protested in Tel Aviv. After the protest, hundreds of people stood to block traffic and light bonfires on Ayalon Highway, the city's main highway. The police made 29 arrests.

The discovery of six bodies from a tunnel in Rafah has made the families of about 100 Israeli captives furious with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Autopsies revealed that Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alex Labonov, Ori Danino and Carmel Gat had been killed about 48 hours before they were found by soldiers.

"A deal to return the abductees has been on the table for more than two months," the Forum of Hostages and Disappeared Families said on Sunday. "If it wasn't for the breakdown [of the deal] and the excuses, the abductees whose deaths we learned this morning would probably be alive."

The strike has the support of the Israel Business Forum, which represents private sector workers at 200 of Israel's largest companies.

Netanyahu said: "While Israel is conducting intensive negotiations with mediators in a supreme effort to reach an agreement, Hamas continues to steadfastly reject any offer."

At least 1200 people were killed and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also held captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014. /TPS