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Palestinian militants fired a rocket into southern Israel for the primary time in months on Monday, in a doubtlessly main escalation after clashes at a delicate holy web site in Jerusalem and a wave of assaults and navy raids elsewhere.
Israel stated it intercepted the rocket, and there have been no speedy stories of casualties or harm. Israel holds Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers chargeable for all such projectiles and normally launches airstrikes of their wake. It was the primary such rocket fireplace since New 12 months’s Eve.
Hours earlier, the chief of the Islamic Jihad militant group, which boasts an arsenal of rockets, had issued a quick, cryptic warning, condemning Israeli “violations” in Jerusalem.
Ziad al-Nakhalah, who is predicated outdoors the Palestinian territories, stated threats to tighten an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza imposed after Hamas took energy in 2007 “cannot silence us from what’s taking place in Jerusalem and the occupied West Financial institution.”
Palestinians and Israeli police clashed over the weekend in and across the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, which has lengthy been an epicentre of Israeli-Palestinian violence. It’s the third holiest web site in Islam and the holiest for Jews, who confer with it because the Temple Mount as a result of the mosque stands on a hilltop the place the Jewish temples have been situated in antiquity.
Protests and clashes there final yr ultimately led to an 11-day Gaza struggle.
Numerous U.S. officers engaged in telephone calls with Israelis, Palestinians and Arab representatives within the area over the weekend to see to it that tensions in Jerusalem don’t escalate, State Division spokesperson Ned Value instructed reporters on Monday.
On Friday, at the very least 152 Palestinians have been wounded in clashes with Israeli riot police contained in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the newest outbreak in an upsurge of violence that has raised fears of a slide again to wider battle. The Israeli navy on Monday stated it shot down a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel.
Police stated they have been responding to Palestinian stone-throwing and that they have been dedicated to making sure that Jews, Christians and Muslims — whose main holidays are converging this yr — might rejoice them safely. Palestinians view the presence of police on the web site as a provocation.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stated on Monday, forward of the rocket fireplace, that Israel has been the goal of a “Hamas-led incitement marketing campaign.”
Tensions come amid non secular holidays
The most recent tensions come through the confluence of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the week-long Jewish vacation of Passover. Christians have been additionally celebrating their holy week main as much as Easter, and tens of 1000’s of tourists have flocked to Jerusalem’s Previous Metropolis — house to main holy websites for all three faiths — for the primary time for the reason that begin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jordan and Egypt, which made peace with Israel many years in the past and co-ordinate with it on safety issues, have condemned its actions on the mosque. Jordan — which serves as custodian of the location — summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires on Monday in protest.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II mentioned the violence with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, agreeing on “the necessity to cease all unlawful and provocative Israeli measures” there, in response to a press release. Jordan deliberate to convene a gathering of different Arab states on the problem.
Israel has been working to enhance relations with Jordan over the previous yr and has lately normalized relations with different Arab states over their shared considerations about Iran. However the Jerusalem clashes and a latest wave of violence have introduced renewed consideration to the battle with the Palestinians, which Israel has sought to sideline in recent times.
An Arab social gathering that made historical past final yr by becoming a member of Israel’s governing coalition suspended its participation on Sunday — a largely symbolic act that however mirrored the sensitivity of the holy web site, which is on the emotional coronary heart of the century-old battle.
Israel captured the West Financial institution, together with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — which incorporates the Previous Metropolis — within the 1967 Mideast struggle. The Palestinians search these territories for a future unbiased state.
The Palestinians have lengthy feared that Israel plans to take over or partition the mosque compound, and in latest weeks calls by Jewish extremists to sacrifice animals there have circulated broadly amongst Palestinians on social media, sparking calls to defend the mosque.
Israeli authorities say they don’t have any intention of fixing the established order, and police are imposing a prohibition on animal sacrifices. Israel says its safety forces have been compelled to enter the compound early Friday after Palestinians stockpiled stones and different objects, and hurled rocks within the path of an adjoining Jewish holy web site.
The violence in Jerusalem has come within the wake of a sequence of Palestinian assaults inside Israel that killed 14 individuals. Israel has launched near-daily arrest raids and different navy operations within the occupied West Financial institution that it says are geared toward stopping extra.
The Israeli navy stated Monday it arrested 11 Palestinians in operations throughout the occupied West Financial institution in a single day. In a raid within the village of Yamun, close to town of Jenin, the military stated dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks and explosives at troops.
Troopers “responded with dwell ammunition towards the suspects who hurled explosive units,” the navy stated. The Palestinian Well being Ministry stated two males have been hospitalized after being critically wounded.
Two of the attackers got here from in and round Jenin, which has lengthy been a bastion of armed battle in opposition to Israeli rule.
At the very least 25 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in latest weeks, in response to an Related Press rely. Many had carried out assaults or have been concerned in clashes, however an unarmed girl and a lawyer who seems to have been a bystander have been additionally amongst these killed.
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