New clashes in Jerusalem, demonstrations in the occupied West Bank, rocket fire from the Gaza Strip… Tension mounts, this Saturday, April 24, between Palestinians and Israeli forces, in the wake of the biggest clashes in years in the Holy City. Skirmishes broke out the night before on the outskirts of the old city of Jerusalem. These clashes come the day after a night of cross-demonstrations, involving a group of far-right Jews chanting “Death to the Arabs”, Palestinians and the police and having injured more than 120.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted by calling for “calm” this Saturday after the clashes in Jerusalem. For his part, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the “incitement to hatred” of Israeli far-right groups and urged the international community to “protect” the Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Clashes in the past few days in Jerusalem began after police prevented people from sitting on the steps around the Damascus Gate, a place where Palestinians normally gather in the evenings during Ramadan.
Projectiles targeting the police
Police and young Palestinians played cat and mouse near Damascus Gate, after the last Friday prayers gathered tens of thousands of worshipers at the Esplanade des Mosques, Islam’s third holiest site, during this period of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Young Palestinians threw water bottles and stones at the police, deployed en masse, who used stun grenades in an attempt to disperse the crowd, and also led to a few arrests, including a muscular one, a. noted a journalist from Agence France-Presse on the spot.
Hundreds of Palestinians gathered at the Qalandiya crossing point, connecting Israel and the West Bank, on Friday evening, where various objects were set on fire. Palestinians threw stones and Molotov cocktails at Rachel’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, police said, while a protest also took place in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority. Later that night, 36 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave geographically separated from the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, into Israel, according to the IDF.
In retaliation, tanks, fighter jets and military helicopters have targeted, according to the army, positions of Hamas, an armed Islamist movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, and had agreed in recent years to a truce with the Hebrew state after three wars between the two camps (2008, 2012, 2014). Following Thursday’s clashes near the Old City, the most violent in recent years in the Holy City, the armed wing of Hamas extended its support to Palestinians in East Jerusalem, warning Israel: “The spark you ignite today will be the fuse of the coming explosion in the face of the enemy. “
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