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by Paul Raymond
© Agence France-Presse
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Gaza militants fired a rocket into Israel Monday, the Israeli military mentioned, the primary such incident in months and an indication {that a} wave of violence round a Jerusalem holy website may escalate additional.
“Sirens sounded within the space surrounding the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military mentioned, referring to a Palestinian enclave managed by the Islamist group Hamas.
“One rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory. The rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome Air Protection System,” the army added in a press release.
There have been no speedy studies of casualties and no faction within the crowded enclave of two.3 million inhabitants instantly claimed duty.
Israel holds Hamas chargeable for all rocket fireplace from Israel, and often carries out air strikes in response.
The incident, the primary of its type since January, comes after a weekend of Israeli-Palestinian violence in and round Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound that wounded greater than 170 individuals, largely Palestinian demonstrators.
Diplomatic sources mentioned the United Nations Safety Council was to carry a session on Tuesday to debate the spike in violence.
Related violence in Jerusalem across the similar time final 12 months triggered repeated Hamas rocket fireplace into Israel which escalated into an 11-day warfare.
‘Illegitimate and provocative’
The spike in tensions coincides with each the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish pageant of Passover.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is thought to Jews as Temple Mount — the holiest website in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam.
Palestinians have been angered by repeated visits to the positioning by Jewish worshippers, who’re permitted to enter however might not pray there.
The federal government of Naftali Bennett has repeatedly declared that Israeli safety forces have a “free hand” to cope with demonstrators.
Hamas had warned on Sunday that “Al-Aqsa is ours and ours alone” and swore to defend Palestinians’ proper to wish there.
The rocket fireplace and Al-Aqsa clashes got here after a spike in violence together with 4 lethal assaults since late March within the Jewish state by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs that claimed 14 lives, largely civilians.
A complete of 23 Palestinians have in the meantime been killed within the violence since March 22, together with assailants who focused Israelis, based on an AFP tally.
They embody Hanan Khudur, an 18-year-old Palestinian lady who died Monday after being shot by Israeli forces final week within the village of Faquaa, close to the flashpoint metropolis of Jenin.
Israel had poured further forces into the occupied West Financial institution and has been reinforcing its barrier within the territory.
State Division spokesman Ned Worth mentioned Monday that the USA was “deeply involved” in regards to the tensions and that senior US officers had been in contact by phone with their counterparts from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Arab nations.
“We have now urged all sides to protect the historic established order” on the Al-Aqsa compound and keep away from “provocative” steps, he mentioned.
Jordan on Monday summoned the Israeli cost d’affaires “to ship a message of protest over illegitimate and provocative Israeli violations on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque”, its international ministry mentioned in a press release.
Jordan serves as custodian of holy locations in east Jerusalem, together with the Previous Metropolis, which Israel occupied in 1967 and later annexed in a transfer not acknowledged by many of the worldwide neighborhood.
Bennett on Monday denounced what he known as a “Hamas-led incitement marketing campaign” and mentioned Israel was doing “every part” to make sure individuals of all faiths may safely worship in Jerusalem.
“We anticipate everybody to not be part of the lies and positively to not encourage violence in opposition to Jews,” he mentioned, in an obvious reference to Jordan.
Bennett can also be dealing with a political disaster at house after his ideologically disparate coalition misplaced its one-seat majority within the 120-seat Knesset, Israel’s parliament, simply wanting a 12 months since he painstakingly cobbled a authorities collectively.
On Sunday, Raam, the primary Arab-Israeli social gathering ever to be a part of an Israeli authorities, mentioned it was “suspending” its membership over the violence in Jerusalem.
© Agence France-Presse
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