Tensions high in occupied territories after Israeli raids
Tensions are running high in the occupied territories days after Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque on successive days amid a new wave of hostilities against Palestinians.
The Israeli forces began attacking the Palestinians at the compound on Wednesday, beating Palestinian worshippers before arresting and forcing out more than 350 of them. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded as a result of the violence.
Israel’s violent raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, was met with retaliatory operations by the Palestinian people and resistance groups.
The raid prompted rocket attacks against the occupied territories from the direction of the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. In response, the Israeli regime on Thursday launched many rounds of airstrikes against Gaza and at least one round of aggression against Lebanon.
In the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military pounded what it claimed to be Hamas weapons production sites and underground tunnels. A children’s hospital in Gaza City was among sites sustaining damage, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
However, the Palestinians did not remain silent and launched other retaliatory attacks against the Israeli atrocities.
On Friday, at least three people were killed and several others were wounded in separate shooting and car-ramming attacks in the occupied territories.
In the Tel Aviv car-ramming late Friday, the alleged attacker rammed his vehicle into a group of civilians near a popular seaside park, police said. Israel’s rescue service said a 30-year-old Italian man was killed, while five other British and Italian tourists were receiving medical treatment for mild to moderate injuries, according to AP.
Police said they shot and killed the driver of the car and identified him as a 45-year-old Palestinian citizen of Israel from the village of Kafr Qassem.
Israel immediately mobilized police and army reserves following the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, amid expectations the incident was likely to amplify calls for the right-wing Netanyahu coalition government to pursue an even tougher approach towards Palestinians.
A shooting in the West Bank, meanwhile, killed two sisters and seriously wounded their mother near an Israeli settlement in the Jordan Valley, Israeli and British officials said. The family lived in the Efrat settlement, near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, said Oded Revivi, the settlement’s mayor.
No groups claimed responsibility for either attack, but the Hamas resistance group that rules Gaza praised both incidents as retaliation for Israeli raids earlier this week on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israel’s moves have also sparked outrage across the Muslim world and drawn condemnations from Islamic countries.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called for unity in the Muslim world against the atrocities of the Israeli regime.
During a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, Raisi strongly slammed the recent attacks of the Israeli forces against Al-Aqsa Mosque as a desecration of the holy place. He also slammed Israeli aggressions on Syria and Lebanon, according to Press TV.
Raisi reiterated the call for holding an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss ways to confront the brutal actions of the Israeli regime.
For his part, Erdogan called for Muslim unity to support Palestine.
“The Islamic world should be united against Israel’s attacks in Palestine,” he said, according to the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications.
Noting that rational thinking could prevent a new cycle of violence in Palestine, Erdogan said adopting common sense would be beneficial for all sides.
In another phone conversation on Friday, Raisi discussed the crisis with the Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow.
Raisi mentioned the recent crimes committed by the Zionist regime in Al-Aqsa Mosque and against the people of Palestine and Lebanon, while stressing the need for the convergence of Islamic countries.
Nearly 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the year. During that time, 16 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.