Benjamin Netanyahu says he will delay reforms for several weeks after tens of thousands protested against the plans.

“When there’s an opportunity to avoid civil war through dialogue, I, as prime minister, am taking a time out for dialogue,” Netanyahu said in a nationally televised address on Monday.

He said he was determined to pass a judicial reform but called for “an attempt to achieve broad consensus”.

The government’s plan to tighten parliament’s control over judicial processes has triggered some of the biggest mass protests in Israeli history, with the plan’s opponents calling the move a threat to democracy.

Netanyahu spoke after tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside the Knesset or parliament and workers launched a nationwide strike in a dramatic escalation of the mass protest movement aimed at halting his plan.

The chaos shut down much of the country and threatened to paralyse the economy, with flights suspended at Ben Gurion International Airport and work halted at the country’s main seaports. Kindergartens and malls were also closed, as well as branches of the fast food chain McDonald’s.

Shortly after the address, the head of the country’s biggest labour union, Histadrut, said it would call off a general strike.

Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition partner, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he had agreed to the delay in return for a deal that he could form a national guard under his ministry – a move opponents fiercely criticise as giving him his own private militia.

Before the prime minister’s address, the grassroots anti-government protest movement said a delay was not enough.

“A temporary freeze does not suffice, and the national protests will continue to intensify until the law is rejected in the Knesset,” organisers said.

Netanyahu’s announcement had initially been expected earlier in the day, but was delayed after far-right members of his government reportedly urged him to not back down.

The struggle illustrates the deep divide in Israeli society between supporters of the government, who say the judicial changes are necessary, and the growing number of people opposed to Netanyahu’s plan, who argue that the moves will weaken the independence of the judiciary and turn Israel into an autocracy.

Earlier, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose ceremonial role normally means that he does not get involved in day-to-day politics, also called for the legislative process to stop.

“For the sake of the unity of the people of Israel, for the sake of responsibility, I call on you to stop the legislative process immediately,” Herzog said on Monday morning.

Herzog’s comments came after protesters took to the streets on Sunday night in several Israeli cities after Netanyahu fired Defence Minister Yoav Gallant a day after Gallant called on television for Netanyahu to halt his proposal, as it was threatening the country’s national security.

A number of army reservists have refused to be called up in protest at the government’s plan, leading to fears in Israel that the country’s military readiness would be impacted.