JERUSALEM - Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews filled the streets of Jerusalem on Thursday to protest government plans to expand military conscription in their community and the recent arrests of draft dodgers by military police.
Almost all sects and factions of the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, community joined what organizers called the "March of the Million."
The demonstration shut down the main highway into Jerusalem and several nearby roads, police said. Train service to and from the city was also suspended for several hours.
Reporters from major Israeli television channels were attacked during live broadcasts, with some pushed, hit with planks and bottles, and forced to leave the area.
Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service said a 15-year-old boy died after falling from the 20th floor of a construction site where protesters had climbed. Another 55 people were slightly injured, the service said. Police opened an investigation into the boy's death.
Since Israel's founding, full-time students at religious seminaries, or yeshivas, have been exempt from the country's mandatory military service, though some members of the ultra-Orthodox community do serve. The policy, long supported by ultra-Orthodox political parties that are key allies in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition, has faced growing criticism during the war in Gaza.
In June, Israel's Supreme Court ruled the blanket exemptions unconstitutional. The government has proposed a new draft law that would keep exemptions for full-time religious students and men over 26, but gradually increase annual recruitment of ultra-Orthodox men starting in 2027. The plan would also impose penalties on those who evade service.
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Separately, Israel on Thursday received the remains of two deceased hostages from the Gaza Strip via the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in separate statements.
The bodies were transferred to the IDF and Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet, before being taken to the National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification.
Once the process is completed, families of the deceased will be formally notified, the statements said.
"The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned," it added.
Not including the latest two, Hamas has so far given back the remains of 15 of the 28 deceased hostages it had agreed to return as part of the recent declared ceasefire deal.
On Tuesday, Israel said that remains handed over by Hamas the previous night were body parts belonging to a hostage whose body had already been recovered by the Israeli army two years ago.
