Israelis swamp passport offices at launch of marathon drive for travel documents

The Interior Ministry on Sunday launched a monthlong drive of extended hours and services to tackle a major logjam of Israelis who want to apply for or renew their passports.

With the opening of Operation Passport Marathon, long lines quickly formed at the four main Interior Ministry bureaus where it was offered — Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba.

Israelis will be able to show up for passport services without an appointment as authorities seek to alleviate a backlog that has created a chronic shortage of time slots, exacerbated by bad actors who used bots to sweep them up and then offered them for sale.

The bureaus were still honoring appointments that had been booked, but early reports said that even those who had scheduled a slot were forced to wait a long time in line.