Israel strike to stop flights at Ben Gurion airport

Ben Gurion airport will shut for four hours on Sunday as part of a nationwide strike over plans by pharmaceutical giant Teva to shed employees, Israel's powerful Histadrut trade union said.

Air traffic at the country's main international airport in Tel Aviv will be suspended between 6am GMT and 10am GMT, said Histadrut, which has called for a "solidarity" strike as well at ports, banks, ministries and other sectors.

Histadrut head Avi Nissenkorn said 1,750 employees will be made redundant by Teva as part of plans to slash 14,000 jobs globally over two years.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world's largest producer of generic drugs, said on Thursday its reductions would be across-the-board and in all its locations.

The cuts would amount to more than a quarter of Teva's global workforce of over 55,000.

Teva has been saddled with debt after its $40-billion acquisition of the generics arm of rival Allergan was completed last year.

The acquisition has been accompanied by low prices for generics, particularly in the United States, a major market.

Nissenkorn, who has met with Teva management, has said that 1,250 employees in Israel will be sacked in 2018 and 500 the following year.

According to Histadrut, Teva has received $6.2 billion in tax reductions since 2006.

The strike follows weeks of tensions in Tel Aviv.

On Saturday, thousands of Israelis marched in central Tel Aviv in what organisers called a "March of Shame" in protest against government corruption.

The turnout in the Israeli capital was estimated at around 10,000, sharply down from the tens of thousands who had marched a week earlier.

Marchers chanted "Bibi go home", using the nickname of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who is under police investigation over suspicions of various graft offences.

Agencies contributed to this report.