An Israeli police raid on Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque has sparked fury among Palestinians and condemnation across the Arab world, as well as cross-border strikes in Gaza and fears of yet another escalation.
Witnesses said police beat worshippers and fired rubber-tipped bullets before dawn on Wednesday (April 5).
The clashes come during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when it's common for crowds to spend the night at the mosque, and also on the eve of the Jewish Passover.
Under a longstanding "status quo" arrangement governing the area, only Muslims are allowed to worship at Al-Aqsa.
But Jewish visitors have increasingly prayed more or less openly at the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The third holiest site in Islam, Al-Aqsa saw clashes that set off war in 2021 between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
At least nine rockets were fired from Gaza overnight, prompting Israeli air strikes on what it said were Hamas weapons-production sites.
Witnesses said Israeli tanks also shelled Hamas positions along the border fence in the southern part of the Gaza strip.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the Palestinians would not let the incident pass.
"What happened in Al-Aqsa mosque, the Israel forces' assaults' on the worshippers is a crime and is a violation of all human rights and laws, and the occupation should be held responsible for it and for it's repercussions, because our people will not let this pass without a response to the terrorizing of the worshippers, worshippers who were safe in the house of God."
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 12 Palestinians were wounded at Al-Aqsa, and Israeli forces were preventing its medics from reaching the area.
Israeli police said in a statement masked agitators locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks and stones, forcing security units to enter the compound.
Israeli authorities say attack kills one, wounds 6 in Tel Aviv
Israeli authorities said late Friday that at least one person was killed and six were wounded in a suspected attack in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub.
The exact nature of the attack was not immediately clear, but the Foreign Ministry referred to it as a “terror attack,” a term Israeli officials use for assaults by Palestinians.
A car rammed into a group of people near a popular seaside park before flipping over, police said. Israel’s rescue service said a 30-year-old man was killed, while four other people were receiving medical treatment for mild to moderate injuries.
Police said they shot the driver of the car. The driver’s condition was uncertain, but social media videos shows a body on the ground beside an overturned car while multiple gunshots ring out
The attack came against the backdrop of heightened tensions after Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian militant targets in both Lebanon and Gaza, as well as a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank that killed two Israelis. That followed days of violence and unrest in Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the compound of the Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City.
The Hamas militant group that rules Gaza praised the attack in Tel Aviv as a response to Israel’s “crimes against Al-Aqsa Mosque and worshippers.”
Shooting attack in Tel Aviv, three wounded
An attacker opened fire in central Tel Aviv on Thursday in a suspected shooting attack, wounding three people, before being “neutralized” by Israeli police, officials said.
Large numbers of police and medical workers rushed to Dizengoff street, a main drag in the heart of the city, where the gunman carried out the attack. A streetside restaurant was left empty after customers apparently fled the scene mid-meal, Reuters footage showed.
“The suspect was neutralized by police officers,” according to a police statement. Three people were wounded, including one in serious condition, it said.
There were no immediate details about the circumstances of the shooting, though police said initial signs were that it was an attack.
Two Israeli-British sisters killed in West Bank shooting attack
Two Israeli sisters were killed on Friday in a shooting attack on their car in the occupied West Bank, Israeli authorities said.
The attack took place with Israel on high alert in Jerusalem after a day of violence along the Lebanese and Gaza borders.
Israel’s military said soldiers had arrived at the scene of a reported collision between Israeli and Palestinian vehicles near the Jewish settlement of Hamra and saw the Israeli car, with three people in it, had been shot up.
Two sisters, aged 16 and 20, died and their mother sustained serious wounds, officials said.
The sisters were also British citizens, according to Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It called for all parties to de-escalate tensions
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting the scene, said: “Vile and heartless terrorists murdered two young sisters.”
“Our forces are operating in the field in hot pursuit of the terrorists. It is only a matter of time, and not much time, that we will hold them accountable,” he said. Palestinian Islamist group Hamas praised the attack, but stopped short of claiming responsibility.
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