Overview
- Magen David Adom reported one fatality and several injuries after a bus hit demonstrators outside the permitted protest zone where regular traffic was moving.
- Police arrested the driver and opened an investigation into the circumstances, saying some protesters tried to block the vehicle as the driver told investigators he was attacked.
- Officers said parts of the crowd threw objects at police, set trash bins on fire, and assaulted journalists, and they described the situation as violent unrest.
- Roughly 15,000 participants rallied against drafting ultra-Orthodox men after a decades-long exemption expired about 18 months ago.
- The incident heightened focus on a contested draft bill, the army’s warnings of a combat troop shortfall during the Gaza war, and the stability of the right-religious governing coalition.