One person was killed and three others injured during a protest in West Jerusalem against a law requiring the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli military, emergency services said.
According to Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, a bus struck several pedestrians during the protest.
Three people were injured before the vehicle continued and hit an 18-year-old who became trapped underneath.
"Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene," the agency said.
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had taken to the streets to protest the proposed law, as the military faces manpower shortages after two years of fighting on multiple fronts.
Mass demonstrations against the conscription measure have taken place regularly in recent months.
Israeli police said Tuesday’s protest escalated after "a small group of rioters began violently disturbing public order, including by blocking traffic routes, damaging buses, setting trash bins on fire, throwing objects and eggs at police officers and Border Police, shouting invective, and assaulting journalists working at the scene."
Police said the bus involved in the fatal incident "was blocked by rioters who were obstructing the route."
The driver was arrested and questioned, and later claimed he had been assaulted by protesters before the incident occurred.
Growing pressure
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced growing pressure from opposition lawmakers and some coalition partners to expand military recruitment.
Ultra-Orthodox party leaders, traditionally allied with Netanyahu, oppose the conscription of religious students.
Under an arrangement dating back to Israel’s founding in 1948, men engaged in full-time religious study have been exempt from mandatory military service.
That exemption has come under increasing scrutiny as tens of thousands of conscripts and reservists have been mobilised, despite a fragile truce that ended the genocide in Gaza.
In November, a revised draft law was introduced in parliament after an earlier version was rejected in July.
One ultra-Orthodox party quit the government over the issue, while ministers from another resigned from the cabinet.
