Ultra-Orthodox draft protesters shut down multiple highways and train routes, causing immense traffic in Israel for over two hours on Thursday.
Two people were injured in the protests: one 21-year-old haredi protester who was hit by a car on Highway 1, and one 93-year-old man whose reasons for being injured have yet to be released.
One woman later turned herself in to Israel Police and confessed to running over protesters.
Footage on social media showed several haredi youths at different sites of protest getting into physical altercations with drivers and Israel Police officers.
The windshield of Transportation Minister Miri Regev's spokesperson was smashed in one such altercation.
"Today we witnessed harrowing sights. Blockades, violence, and a real civil war on Israel's roads," former prime minister Naftali Bennett wrote in a post to X/Twitter on Thursday night. "It hurts. But this is not who we are."
Extremism of this kind will soon end and "we will return to running Israel," Bennett said. "We will restore law and order everywhere."
"We will dismantle the Haredi 'state within a state' that has grown here, completely stop funding draft evasion, and the result will be that everyone will join us in the workforce and in IDF service."
Police had shut down Highway 4 south of Ramat Gan earlier on Thursday and blocked off the area from Shiva Interchange to Mosavim. Later, protesters blocked Highway 1 near the Ganot Interchange and Highway 6 near the Ben Shemen Interchange, west of Ben-Gurion Airport.
Multiple reports emerged of protesters blocking trains in central Israel. Ben-Gurion Airport employees reported chaos at the airport after train service was suspended in both directions.
Highways 34 and 25 near Netivot were also blocked, causing more traffic in central Israel.
Haredi protesters fight civilians, make traffic stand still in Israel
"At Savidor, the trains are frozen. One train that was supposed to travel to Jerusalem got diverted back, and passengers were forced to disembark," one witness told The Jerusalem Post.
"The Savidor Station is crowded with people either leaving the station or waiting, with little information about when the trains may be up again."
"It’s complete chaos, a handful of fringe protesters have brought the country to a halt, and police seem to just be letting it happen," a second witness, who claimed to have waited as Tel Aviv's Savidor Station for over an hour and a half, told the Post.
Another witness was stuck at Ben-Gurion Airport for over an hour. He said that cheers emerged when employees announced over the loudspeaker that trains would resume shortly.
Airport in chaos after haredi protesters stop train traffic
The Israel Airports Authority warned on Thursday that protests near Ben-Gurion Airport are expected to cause traffic congestion and delays, and recommended that passengers and airport staff use the train to reach the airport.
According to a statement posted on X/Twitter, the Airport Authority said it is "prepared to maintain the operational continuity of Ben-Gurion Airport and the continuation of regular aviation activity," adding that operations are expected to continue as scheduled.
This comes after the Knesset advanced a bill to give draft evaders the same rights as IDF soldiers.
Traffic is expected to be further strained by concerts by Omer Adam in Ramat Gan, Ben Tzur at the Moshava Stadium in Petah Tikva, and Eyal Golan at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv on Thursday night.
Later on Thursday evening, Israel and Border Police rescued three soldiers who had been mobbed by a group of haredim in Jerusalem's Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood.
Additional video footage circulating on social media showed a similar incident in Modi'in Illit.