Israeli protesters out in force as strikes continue

PROTESTERS took to Israel's streets for what they called a “day of disruption” yesterday, denouncing the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists for an offensive that has drawn global condemnation and fuelled fears in Israel it could endanger hostages still held in Gaza.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTERS

The demonstrators accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet of failing to secure a ceasefire deal and instead intensifying an invasion that hospitals in Gaza say in its initial stages is already accelerating a rise in fatalities.

“We have to take an extreme action so that someone will remember. ‘There's no such thing as a state abandoning its citizens,” Yael Kuperman, a protester near the Knesset told Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

Meanwhile, hospital officials told the Associated Press at least 24 people were killed in strikes overnight into Wednesday.