The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday carried out strikes against the Gaza Strip, the first in three months, in retaliation for a rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave.
Following a closed UN Security Council meeting, Ireland, France, Estonia, Norway and Albania jointly condemned the shootings, demanding an end to the violence and respect for the “status quo of holy places”.
Israeli forces said in the morning that they had bombed a Hamas weapons site, the armed Islamist movement in power in the Palestinian enclave; the strikes caused no casualties. The raids followed a rocket fire Monday evening from Gaza into southern bordering Israel; the craft was intercepted by the Israeli missile shield.
Tense context
The violence comes amid ongoing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, aggravated by four attacks in Israel between March 22 and April 7, which killed a total of 14 people.
In the wake of these attacks, the Israeli army carried out several operations, some deadly, in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by the Jewish state since 1967, in particular in regions from which certain perpetrators of the attacks in Israel originated.
Snaps
In addition, the West Bank village of Burqa was the scene of clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinians protesting a march by nationalist Jews towards the nearby site of Homesh, a settlement evacuated in 2005 and whose settlers demand reconstruction. The army fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, some 50 of whom were treated for gas inhalation. Four people were injured by tear gas canisters and seven by rubber bullets, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
In East Jerusalem, the police did not allow a march by right-wing Israeli nationalist organizations around the Old City, for fear of slippage.
More than 150 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli forces on Friday and Sunday at the Al-Masjid compound in East Jerusalem, violence that coincided with the Jewish Passover holiday and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The Esplanade of the Mosques is the third holiest site in Islam, but also the holiest place in Judaism under its name of Temple Mount. During Ramadan, it welcomes tens of thousands of Muslim faithful daily and it is also visited by Jews at specific times. However, the presence of Jews during Ramadan and, above all, the intervention of the Israeli forces on the esplanade against the Muslim worshipers aroused the anger of the Palestinians.