In the midst of the war, Israeli anti-government protesters march to Benjamin Netanyahu’s house

On Thursday, anti-government protesters gathered in Jerusalem and flocked to the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lighting a bonfire in the street outside and demanding his resignation.

“We have been abandoned – now there are elections!” read a sign towering above the crowd. Protesters shouted through megaphones, waved flags and beat drums while police stood at the barricades.

Such demonstrations are becoming more frequent, given the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and the threat of escalation in fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon, but they have not yet reached the peak they reached a year ago when Netanyahu’s government attempted to reform Israel’s justice system.

Many in the crowd, which appeared to number several thousand people, also chanted their support for an agreement to release about 120 Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

As the sun went down, protesters blocked traffic and lit a large bonfire on a street in central Jerusalem. But there were no reports of major scuffles and police did not use water cannon to control the crowd, as they have done during noisier demonstrations.

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