Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will delay the process for discussions on a planned judicial overhaul to next month, the far-right coalition member party Jewish Power has said.

In a statement, the party said legislation would be pushed to the next session of parliament to "pass the reform through dialogue".

Parliament will go on recess next week for the Passover holiday.

The party's leader, Itamar Ben Gvir, will support the extension, and in exchange, a "national guard" will be formed under the control of his National Security Ministry, the statement said, according to Israeli media.

Why are emotions so strong among so many Israelis?

Earlier political analyst Arieh Kovler told the BBC there's a feeling among many opponents of the proposed changes to Israel's judicial system that these reforms have come too fast.

While many voted for the current coalition government, and the parties that make it up, such a "broad" and "dramatic series of changes", forced through with so little debate, were not something they expected, Kovler says.

"There's a sense of whiplash, a sense of despair among some of the protesters. Until the last couple of days, they thought nothing would stop this," he states.

He adds that while opponents of the reforms acknowledge that things are not perfect in terms of the country's constitutional balance, he says many feel this set of reforms go "far too far" the other way.

Aerial footage filmed by a drone shows huge crowds of protesters demonstrating against Israel's controversial judicial changes.

Let's have a look at photos from across Israel as thousands of people demonstrate against the prime minister's judicial reform plans.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Israelis have been gathering outside the Knesset - Israel's parliament - to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial judicial reforms.

BBC Middle East correspondent Tom Bateman has been reporting from the scene.

Anna Foster
Reporting from Jerusalem

We're waiting to hear what Benjamin Netanyahu will say today following the delicate, difficult talks going on behind the scenes.

When Netanyahu eventually does speak, the wording of what he says will be crucial. People will be looking at the details of the vocabulary.

Is this going to be a pause in pushing the legislation through? Or is it going to be an agreement that the legislation will be scrapped altogether?

That's what the demonstrators want, but his right-wing coalition partners will be pushing hard behind the scenes to keep it alive.

David Gritten
Middle East desk, BBC News

Image source, Reuters

Israel’s defence minister was sacked on Sunday after he called for a halt to the judicial overhaul, warning it was causing a "social rift" that was a “clear, immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state”.

Yoav Gallant said he had never encountered such anger and disappointment among members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which is one of the country’s most respected institutions and is seen as an apolitical unifying force in a diverse society.

In recent weeks thousands of reservists, including members of elite air force and military intelligence units, have said they would not report for aspects of their volunteer duty if the government pushed through its reforms.

Reservists are a key component of the IDF, often carrying out frontline roles, and in the case of the air force, regularly involved in active combat operations.

Last week, the New York Times reported, external that the IDF's chief of staff had privately warned it was on the verge of reducing the scope of certain military operations due to the falling number of reservists.

Israel’s security establishment is also said to be concerned that its main adversaries - including the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Lebanese militant group Hamas, and Iran - and domestic extremists are growing emboldened by the turmoil.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, thousands of people have gathered outside the Knesset as part of nationwide protests in Israel against the government's plans to reform the judicial system.

Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity party, has been addressing demonstrators at a rally outside the Knesset.

Gantz said that although the country is not uniform, it should be unified. "We are one people," Gantz told protesters outside parliament.

"Whoever doesn't protect his country won't have a country, and you are protecting our country," Gantz said as he thanked people for their continuous efforts.

Tom Bateman
Reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

Here inside the Israeli parliament politicians are hurrying between the chamber and their political faction meetings.

The Labor party leader Merav Michaeli just told a gathering of her MPs they won’t budge on their opposition until all the highly controversial legislation is scrapped completely - not just postponed.

I put it to put it to her that this didn’t sound much like compromise - doesn’t her party have a duty to dial it down given the scale of chaos in the country? “There can be no compromise over democracy,” she said. “We are one vote away from dictatorship”.

A big screen outside the chamber shows which MPs are in the building - two faces are greyed out, those of Benjamin Netanyahu and his far right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who says he’ll quit if the legislation is stopped. The two men have been in talks in the prime minister’s office a few hundred yards from here.

Now Netanyahu is having to grapple for his survival with the extremist forces he brought into his coalition. The stalling of Netanyahu’s live tv address suggests there is still no decisive outcome.

Anna Foster
Reporting from Jerusalem

Right now Israelis are watching society close down around them hour by hour.

When the country’s biggest trade union announced a strike this morning the first impact was felt at Ben Gurion airport, where departing flights were quickly halted. That was followed by shops and banks shutting their doors and universities cancelling lectures.

Israel’s Medical Association says hospitals won’t be working fully and will only provide emergency care, even regional and local councils have been closed.

As noisy demonstrations continue up and down the country the protesters aim to paralyse the country’s services, and force Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into abandoning his government’s judicial reform.

As we've been reporting, anti-government protests have swept the streets of Israel. And inside the Knesset - Israel's parliament - opposition politicians have expressed their fury towards the government's judicial reform plans.

Simcha Rothman - chairman of the Israeli parliament's law committee - was attacked by parliamentarians this morning, who described the reform as a radical takeover of the state of Israel.

Rothman is a key architect of the Netanyahu government's controversial legal reforms aimed at overhauling the country's judicial system.

"Shame! Shame!" was cried out and accusations were made comparing it to militant Islamist groups: "This is a hostile takeover of the state of Israel. No need for Hamas, no need for Hezbollah," one lawmaker was heard saying.

"The law is balanced and good for Israel," Rothman said in response.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Crowds of protesters flooded the streets of Israel on Sunday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defence minister, who had spoken out against plans to overhaul the justice system.

For weeks, huge protests have erupted over the government's reform plans. Opponents say the reforms will severely undermine the country's democracy.

Here are the latest developments:

• PM's plea: In a message shared on Twitter, Netanyahu appealed to protesters to "behave responsibly" and "refrain from violence"
• Statement postponed: Netanyahu had been due to make an announcement about his plans this morning, but this has been delayed. Suspicion has been mounting that Netanyahu may halt his plans in a bid to calm the protests
• Strike action: Departures from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport were suspended as part of trade union Histadrut's protests against the reforms. The country's two main sea ports have stopped work, and fast food chain McDonald's began closing its Israel branches
• Israel's embassies around the world have been told by a workers union to join the strike action
• Call for unity: Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat called for the government to unite behind Netanyahu's expected decision to pause the legislation. Justice Minister Yariv Levin said he would respect any decision the PM makes

• 'Deep concern': The White House released a statement expressing "deep concern", urging Israeli leaders to "find a compromise as soon as possible".

Stay with us as we continue to bring you updates throughout the afternoon.

Israeli embassies around the world have been instructed by a workers' union to join the strikes, in a letter seen by Reuters news agency reported.

A source in one Israeli embassy, who didn't want to be named, confirmed the report. They said that staff in embassies and consulates worldwide would decide whether they would join the strike or not.

According to Reuters, the letter said Foreign Ministry activities in the country and abroad would be limited to emergency services.

The web page of the Israeli Embassy in Nepal has the words "on strike", external written on it.

Anna Foster
Reporting from Jerusalem

In order to regain power, Benjamin Netanyahu had to form a coalition after the election in November last year.

That's how things work in Israeli politics - it's always a coalition that comes together to command more than 61 seats in parliament.

For Netanyahu to be prime minister once again, he needed to put together a group of people who would enable him to have that ruling majority.

That was why he had to bring in those far-right elements of Israeli politics and keep them happy. If he doesn't have that coalition, he's not in power. So for him, this is crucial.

At the moment, he is also in the middle of a corruption trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He denies all charges.

But he is thinking now about what happens when that trial ends - he's got one eye on his future. All of that has really come to a head today, and he has some tough decisions to make.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a post on Twitter, external, calling protesters on all sides "to behave responsibly and not act violently," adding "we are brotherly people".

It comes as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz is citing senior police sources saying they fear "immediate escalation" after extreme right-wing activists announced they would protest on Monday at the Knesset.

Raffi Berg
BBC Online Middle East editor

Image source, Reuters

The Israeli government's plans to change the way the judicial system works has caused uproar.

The legal reforms at the centre of the crisis concern the power of the government versus the power of the courts to scrutinise and even overrule the government.

The government - and others - say reform is overdue, though the plans go much further than many people would like.

Under the government's plans:

• The power of the Supreme Court to review or throw out laws would be weakened, with a simple majority of one in parliament able to overrule court decisions.
• The government would have a decisive say over who becomes a judge, including in the Supreme Court, by increasing its representation on the committee which appoints them
• Ministers would not be required to obey the advice of their legal advisers - guided by the attorney general - which they currently have to by law

One reform has already been passed into law - removing the power of the attorney general to pronounce a sitting prime minister as unfit for office.

Read more: What is the judicial reform crisis in Israel about?

David Gritten
Middle East desk, BBC News website

Reports suggest Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to announce that his governing coalition will pause or halt its contentious judicial overhaul. However, there has been no confirmation yet.

The prime minister’s Likud party briefed Israeli media earlier that he was likely to stop the legislative process “for a few weeks”. But the statement was then postponed, amid reports that Justice Minister Yariv Levin - a close ally of Netanyahu in Likud and the architect of the reforms - and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir - head of the far-right ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party - were threatening to resign.

Levin is now saying that he will respect any decision the prime minister makes, warning that coalition lawmakers must “strive to stabilise the government”.

He and Ben-Gvir were said to be insisting that Netanyahu push through a bill that would effectively give the government the power to appoint judges before parliament’s break for the Jewish Passover holiday, which begins on Sunday.

Last week, the prime minister announced that he would delay most of the legislation making up the overhaul until after the end of the recess on 30 April, apart from the bill changing the judicial appointments committee. A parliamentary committee approved that bill for its final readings on Monday, as the coalition debated its next step.

Image source, Getty Images

Israel's justice minister, Yariv Levin, says he will respect any decision Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes in regards to the judicial reforms.

In a statement, Levin says it is in the best interest of his party, Likud, to cooperate with Netanyahu's decision - whatever it may be.

"A situation in which everyone does as they wish is liable to bring about the instant fall of the government and collapse of the Likud. We must all strive to stabilise the government and the coalition," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

We are hearing more from trade unions in Israel joining the calls for nationwide strikes as part of the protests against the government.

After Ben Gurion Airport, the country’s two main sea ports, Haifa and Ashdod have also stopped work.

Both have released statements saying work has halted in both ports, Reuters news agency reports.

Image source, Getty Images

Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat has called for the government to unite behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid unrest over reforms to the judicial system.

Barkat appealed to coalition parties to back Netanyahu - after widespread speculation that he intends to move to postpone the controversial legislation.

Writing on Twitter,, external Barkat said: “I call on all my colleagues in the government, in Likud and the partner parties in the coalition, to unite behind the prime minister and support him in stopping the legislation.

“We must not bring about the overthrow of the right-wing government with our own hands. Our strength is in our unity."