JERUSALEM – Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets nationwide on Saturday to protest rising housing prices, the largest turnout in a grass-roots movement that began two weeks ago and is demanding steps from the government to ease the burden.

The protests over housing costs have tapped into wider discontent among Israelis over the high cost of living and the growing gaps between rich and poor. Other protests include doctors striking over working conditions and pay, parents demonstrating against expensive child-rearing costs and similar outpourings over increasing gas prices.

Protesters thronged the streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other major cities and chanted, “The people demand social justice.” They waved Israeli flags and placards that read: “Work three jobs but don’t make ends meet,” “Killing ourselves to live” and “Social gaps are killing us.”

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said more than 100,000 people protested in 10 cities across the country, from Beersheba in the south to Kiryat Shmoneh at the northern tip. Police closed major streets for the protesters to march.

The protests, inspired in part by unrest in neighboring Arab countries, show no signs of slowing.