Clashes took place at the al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on Wednesday. Shortly after, rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
It’s a ” unprecedented crime » denounced the Hamas this Wednesday after the clashes that took place at the al-Aqsa mosque. The Palestinian movement has called on the Palestinians to West Bank ” to go en masse to the mosque al-Aqsa to defend her “.
For its part, the Israeli police intervened at night inside the religious building in East Jerusalem to dislodge ” stirrers “who had introduced” fireworks, sticks and stones “.
In images released by the Israeli police, we can see explosions of what appear to be fireworks inside the place of worship, and on which we can guess silhouettes throwing stones. Another police video footage shows riot police advancing through the mosque shielding themselves from rocket fire with shields. Footage then shows batteries of fireworks and police evacuating at least five people with their hands cuffed behind their backs.
Rockets to Israel and protesters in Gaza
After the announcement of the clashes at the mosque, several rockets were fired from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory, according to AFP journalists and witnesses. At least three rockets were seen firing from afar as the Israeli military reported warning sirens going off in several Israeli urban areas around the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army indicated for its part that five rockets fired in the direction of Israeli territory had been intercepted by anti-aircraft defense in the area of Sderot (southern Israel), and that four other rockets fell in uninhabited areas. In Gaza, dozens of protesters took to the streets in several places overnight, burning tires. ” We swear to defend and protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque they proclaimed.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement “condemning the Israeli police invasion inside [de la mosquée] Al-Aqsa and the Aggression Against the Faithful”. ” Egypt holds Israel, the occupying power, responsible for this dangerous escalation which could undermine the truce efforts,” the text adds.
This violence comes a little before the middle of Ramadan and as the Jews prepare to celebrate Easter from Wednesday evening, while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has experienced a sharp upsurge in violence since the beginning of the year after the one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history took office at the end of December. The violence has claimed nearly 110 lives since the start of the year and resumed over the weekend after a semblance of a lull observed since the start of Ramadan on March 23.
(With AFP)