While Hamas’ military wing launches hundreds of rockets from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip during skirmishes with Israel, rocket fire from the West Bank remains rare. The Israeli military said it had found remains of an improvised rocket near the Palestinian village of Silat al-Harithiya, just northwest of Jenin. The group identified the rocket as a Qassam-1, a primitive and notoriously inaccurate type of rocket with a range of some 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). Ben-Gvir has long called for increased Jewish access.Īs Palestinian anger rose over Ben-Gvir’s visit, the Hamas military wing in the West Bank released a video purporting to show militants in the northern city of Jenin firing a rocket toward northern Jewish settlements across Israel’s separation barrier. But in recent years, a growing number of Jewish visitors have begun to quietly pray, raising fears among Palestinians that Israel is plotting to divide or take over the site. Under longstanding arrangements, Jews are permitted to visit the site, but not to pray there. Police said they had arrested 16 people for violating “visitation regulations” at the site. Today, it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. The site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism. Thursday was Ben-Gvir’s third public visit to the contested site since joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government. “This is very dangerous.”īen-Gvir, a former West Bank settler leader and far-right activist who years ago was convicted of incitement and supporting a Jewish terror group, now oversees the country’s police force. “The government is giving cover to these extremists,” said Bassam Abu Labda, a Waqf official. Waqf officials said crowds of Jewish visitors danced, whistled and sang the Israeli national anthem as they streamed through the compound. Neighboring Jordan, which acts as a custodian over the site and has a peace agreement with Israel, said such visits “threaten to trigger new cycles of violence.” Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Islam’s two holiest cities and a country with which Israel hopes to normalize ties, denounced the visit as “a provocation of the feelings of Muslims around the world.” Turkey demanded that Israeli authorities “restrain these provocations.” The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it considered Ben-Gvir’s visit an attempt to impose Israeli sovereignty over the site. The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Affairs Ministry warned that the government and extremists like Ben-Gvir would “push things toward religious war” by provoking Muslims worldwide. Fares’ father, Sharhabeel Abu Samra, a Palestinian security officer, claimed his son was walking in the street and “not doing anything,” when Israeli soldiers shot at him and then hit him with their jeep. Residents of Qalqilya accused the Israeli military of opening fire toward civilians after storming into the town to arrest a Palestinian. The Israeli military said Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs at troops, who responded by firing into the air. The site is revered by Jews and Muslims, and the competing claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Įarly Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said 14-year-old Fares Abu Samra was killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Qalqilya. It also prompted the Hamas militant group to announce the launch of a rare rocket from the West Bank and drew condemnation from across the Muslim world. The visit by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the disputed hilltop compound comes during a period of heightened Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank for the past year and a half and threatens to inflame already surging tensions. If (slot) slot.addService(googletag.JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli military killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, as an ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site that has been a flashpoint for violence between Israel and the Palestinians. (function (a, d, o, r, i, c, u, p, w, m) 3 dead, 4 injured in ax murder terror attack in Elad, Israel - Israel News - The Jerusalem Post
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |