Around 30,000 have gathered in Rome and around 50,000 in Bologna, where the police used water cannons to disperse demonstrators who blocked a motorway, reports Rai News.
Also in Milan, tens of thousands are reported to have participated in protests. There, clashes broke out between police and a smaller group of black-clad demonstrators who tried to enter the city's central station.
The general strike, which was announced by a number of trade unions representing everyone from teachers to metalworkers, has, among other things, led to disruptions in train and public transport and delayed deliveries at the major ports in Genoa and Livorno, reports AP.
If we do not carry out blockades against Israel, if we do not block trade, deliveries of weapons and other things to Israel, then we will not achieve anything, says Walter Montagnoli, chairman of the trade union CUB, to the news agency.
Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Meloni has had a good relationship with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but has recently expressed herself more critically about Israel's warfare in Gaza.
Her government, however, does not join the countries that, led by France, will recognize a Palestinian state in connection with the UN General Assembly this week.
