PM cuts gas taxes for second time in March

Gas prices will only rise by 5 agorot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz announced on Saturday night, in an apparent concession to popular demands. Despite the reduced tax hike, however, electricity fees are still set to rise 9% to compensate for the increasing cost of gasoline worldwide.

Gas prices will only go up to NIS 7.79 at the pump at midnight, instead of the NIS 7.94 expected earlier this week. Nonetheless, this increase will still mark an all time high for gas in Israel.

Their decision to keep gas prices below NIS 8 per liter came as some 2,000 protesters rallied in Tel Aviv against the rising cost of living. The march started in Rabin Square and proceeded to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Protesters lit torches and chanted “We are the people, we are the power,” the Marker reported.

Protest leaders demanded earlier on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intervene and cancel the planned rise in utilities costs. In a similar measure at the beginning of March, Netanyahu cut gas taxes by 10 agorot to prevent prices from breaking NIS 8 per liter.