Three years of fighting mean defence spending has soared

Also affected is Israel's main international airport, Ben-Gurion, where striking baggage handlers have left soldiers searching every bag, bringing travel almost to a standstill.

The go-slow by about 50,000 workers is the second bout of action this year, called by Israel's leading union organisation in the face of sweeping government budget cuts.

The Histadrut trade union body says the government's draft budget - passed earlier this month with 10bn shekels ($2.2bn; �1.4bn) in cutbacks - has reneged on promises to avoid job cuts beyond the 600 agreed last May.

But the government insists that its austerity measures - including 2,000 fresh job losses - are necessary to cope with a gaping budget deficit.

Finance Minister Netanyahu is cutting back hard

Soaring security costs after three years of renewed fighting between Israel and the Palestinians and the effects of a sharp recession have left the public finances in tatters.

Balancing act

Aside from the slowdown at Ben-Gurion, the most immediate effect of the strike was on the one in 10 Israelis who have been left jobless by the recession.

The National Insurance Institute (NII), which pays unemployment relief payments, is one of the agencies targeted for mergers and cutbacks in the draft budget.

Its workers are refusing to allocate benefits, while colleagues at the Employment Service have closed their doors to jobseekers.

"All of (our members) are at work, but not doing any work," said a Histadrut spokesman, saying no-one would answer phones or see members of the public.

The draft budget originally called for heavy cuts to defence spending.