1 killed, 3 injured as bus hits Israeli ultra-Orthodox protesters during anti-conscription rally

Zionist regime’s emergency services and police reported the development that was reflected widely across the Zionist regime’s media outlets on Tuesday, identifying the fatality as 14-year-old Yosef Eisenthal.

Medics said he was hit at an intersection as tens of thousands of protesters gathered to oppose mandatory conscription.

The protest, initiated by a group of senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis, began with speeches and escalated into disorder as the evening progressed.

Protesters lit fires, burned dumpsters, and blocked traffic along Yirmiyahu Street and at the intersection with Shamgar Street.

The bus struck protesters on Shamgar Street, hitting three pedestrians, before continuing onto Ohel Yehoshua Street, where it struck another person, according to the regime’s Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service.

Two of the injured were reported to be 14 and 17 years old, and all three sustained light injuries.

Graphic footage from the scene showed the bus driving through an intersection where a fire had been lit in the roadway, with one protester pushed underneath the vehicle.

Journalists from The Times of Israel witnessed emergency responders attempting to extricate a person from beneath the bus before police pushed crowds away.

MDA emergency medical technician Eli Eisenbach said responders arrived to find a young demonstrator trapped under the bus with no pulse and no breathing and showing signs of “severe multi-system trauma.”

He said medics were forced to pronounce him dead at the scene.

‘Driver reported being attacked by protesters’

Police detained the bus driver and took him in for questioning.

According to the police, the driver told investigators he had been attacked by rioters during the protest.

Hebrew-language media reported that he had called the emergency police hotline, requesting assistance after protesters surrounded his bus, blocked its movement, and accosted him.

Following the incident, the police said they were working to disperse protesters who they said threw objects and eggs at officers, set fires, blocked roads, and attacked journalists.

The police also said reporters covering the protest were pelted with stones and required medical treatment.

The ramming remains under investigation.

Despite protest organizers claiming the rally dispersed peacefully after the incident, demonstrators continued to block intersections and fires remained burning in parts of the area.

The protest featured banners and speeches warning against conscription, with some speakers describing draft efforts in extreme terms.

Ultra-Orthodox Israelis intensely reject conscription in the army, and have been exempt for decades to pursue full-time religious studies.

However, a 2023 ruling by the regime’s high court ended these broad exemptions, prompting the military to begin enforcing draft orders amid growing troop shortages.

The regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide against the Gaza Strip has stretched its military, while approximately 80,000 ultra-Orthodox Israelis aged between 18 and 24 have yet to register for conscription.