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Tens of Thousands Rally against Netanyahu Government in Jerusalem

Anti-government protesters launch a prolonged demonstration calling for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's government to resign and a general election in the wake of the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas and the ensuing war in Gaza, in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, March 31, 2024. (Reuters)
Anti-government protesters launch a prolonged demonstration calling for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's government to resign and a general election in the wake of the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas and the ensuing war in Gaza, in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, March 31, 2024. (Reuters)
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Tens of Thousands Rally against Netanyahu Government in Jerusalem

Anti-government protesters launch a prolonged demonstration calling for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's government to resign and a general election in the wake of the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas and the ensuing war in Gaza, in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, March 31, 2024. (Reuters)
Anti-government protesters launch a prolonged demonstration calling for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's government to resign and a general election in the wake of the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas and the ensuing war in Gaza, in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, March 31, 2024. (Reuters)

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Jerusalem on Sunday against Benjamin Netanyahu's government and against exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from military service, in scenes reminiscent of mass street protests last year.

Protest groups, including some that led the mass demonstrations that rocked Israel in 2023, organized the rally outside parliament, the Knesset, calling for a new election to replace the government.

The protesters also want a more equal share in the burden of army service that binds most Israelis. Around 600 soldiers have been killed so far since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza, the military's highest casualty toll in years.

Israel's N12 News said it appeared to be the largest demonstration since the war began. Haaretz and Ynet news sites said it drew tens of thousands of people.

Netanyahu's cabinet has faced widespread criticism over the security failure of the Hamas attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage to Gaza.

"This government is a complete and utter failure," said 74-year-old Nurit Robinson, at the rally. "They will lead us into the abyss."

Israel's war in the Palestinian enclave has aggravated a longstanding source of friction in society that is also unsettling Netanyahu's coalition government - exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from service in the country's conscript military.

With a March 31 deadline looming for the government to come up with legislation to resolve a decades-long standoff over the issue, Netanyahu filed a last-minute application to the Supreme Court last week or a 30-day deferment.

In an apparent accommodation, the Supreme Court gave government officials until April 30 to submit additional arguments. But, in an interim ruling, it also ordered a suspension of state funding for seminary students who would be liable for conscription from Monday.

Protesters were waving blue and white Israeli flags and chanting "elections now".

At a news conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said he was confident a solution will be found. He also said that holding an election at the height of war, when he said Israel was so close to victory, would paralyze the country for months.

In Tel Aviv, some families of hostages and their supporters, blocked a main highway, protesting against what they described as Netanyahu's failure to return their loved ones.

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Aid Rushes Into Myanmar after Quake Kills Over 1,600

A monk walks past damaged houses in Mandalay on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP)
A monk walks past damaged houses in Mandalay on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP)
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Aid Rushes Into Myanmar after Quake Kills Over 1,600

A monk walks past damaged houses in Mandalay on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP)
A monk walks past damaged houses in Mandalay on March 30, 2025, two days after an earthquake struck central Myanmar. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP)

Myanmar's neighbors sent warships and aircraft laden with relief materials and rescue personnel on Sunday, as international aid gained steam after a massive earthquake ravaged much of the poor Southeast Asian nation.
At least 1,600 people have been killed and 3,400 injured by Friday's 7.7-magnitude quake, one of Myanmar's strongest in a century, its military government said.
"All military and civilian hospitals, as well as healthcare workers, must work together in a coordinated and efficient manner to ensure effective medical response," said the junta chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, according to state-run media.
The US Geological Service's predictive modelling estimated Myanmar's death toll could top 10,000 and losses could exceed the country's annual economic output, Reuters reported.
The quake jolted parts of neighboring Thailand, bringing down an under-construction skyscraper and killing 17 people across the capital, according to Thai authorities. At least 78 people remained trapped under the debris of the collapsed building.
The deadliest natural disaster to hit Myanmar in years damaged critical infrastructure, including an airport, highways and bridges, slowing humanitarian operations, according to the United Nations.
The quake hit a nation already in chaos with a civil war that has escalated since the 2021 military coup, which ousted the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and sparked a nationwide armed uprising.
The fighting has battered the largely agrarian economy of Myanmar, formerly called Burma, displaced over 3.5 million people and left essential services, such as healthcare, in tatters.
The opposition National Unity Government, which includes remnants of the previous administration, said anti-junta militias under its command would pause all offensive military actions for two weeks from Sunday.
"The NUG, together with resistance forces, allied organizations and civil society groups, will carry out rescue operations," it said in a statement.
In some of the country's hardest hit areas, residents told Reuters that government assistance was scarce so far, leaving people to fend for themselves.
The entire town of Sagaing near the quake's epicenter was devastated, said resident Han Zin.
"What we are seeing here is widespread destruction - many buildings have collapsed into the ground," he said by phone, adding that much of the town had been without electricity since the disaster hit and drinking water was running out.
"We have received no aid, and there are no rescue workers in sight."
Across the Irrawaddy river in Mandalay, a rescue worker said most operations in the country's second-largest city were being conducted by small, self-organized resident groups that lack the required equipment.
"We have been approaching collapsed buildings, but some structures remain unstable while we work,” he said, asking not to be named because of security concerns.
Scores of people were feared trapped under collapsed buildings across Mandalay but most could not be reached or pulled out without heavy machinery, another humanitarian worker and two residents said.
"People are still stuck in the buildings, they can't take people out," said a resident who asked not to be named.
Hospitals in parts of central and northwestern Myanmar, including Mandalay and Sagaing, were struggling to cope with the influx of injured people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
India, China and Thailand are among the neighbors that have sent relief materials and teams, along with aid and personnel from Malaysia, Singapore and Russia.
Indian military aircraft made multiple sorties into Myanmar on Saturday, including ferrying supplies and search-and-rescue crews to Naypyitaw, the purpose-made capital, parts of which have been wrecked by the earthquake.
The Indian army will help set up a field hospital in Mandalay, and two navy ships carrying supplies are heading to Myanmar's commercial capital of Yangon, said Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Multiple teams of Chinese rescue personnel have arrived, including one that crossed in overland from its southwestern province of Yunnan, China's embassy in Myanmar said on social media.
A 78-member team from Singapore, accompanied by rescue dogs, was operating in Mandalay on Sunday, Myanmar state-media said.