Dozens of protesters blocked a freeway in Los Angeles during rush hour Wednesday to demand a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

They sat on the road, stopping traffic and causing kilometers of traffic jams in the city where, even under normal conditions, traffic is hopeless.

Members of IfNotNow, a collective that says it was founded by “American Jews organizing to end US support for Israel’s apartheid system,” placed giant menorahs on the asphalt and chanted calls for an “immediate end of fire”.

“As Jews, we cannot stand idly by as the population in Gaza is starved and slaughtered in our name,” the collective said on social media.

“We cannot allow life to go on as usual when Palestinians are murdered with total impunity. So we closed the road.”

Footage from the demonstration shows arguments and skirmishes, apparently between protesters and motorists.

Police intervened about an hour after the highway was blocked.

Protesters were arrested and taken to waiting police vehicles.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip exceeded 18,600 dead. The vast majority of them were women, children and teenagers.

As international support for Israel’s war on Hamas wans, the UN General Assembly this week overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, while US President Joe Biden warned against bombings carried out “indiscriminately”. ” and kill civilians.