Sunday April 25, 2021
Shelling from the Gaza Strip
Palestinians riot in Jerusalem
The mood in Jerusalem is heated: After the heavy clashes between Palestinians and far-right Israelis on Thursday, Palestinians again fought street battles with the police on Sunday night. Meanwhile, Hamas is firing rockets into Israeli territory.
For the third evening in a row, violent clashes took place between Palestinians and the Israeli police. The clashes in the old city of Jerusalem are said to have been less violent than on the two previous evenings. Six Palestinians were injured, said the Red Crescent aid organization. Five of them could have been treated on site.
To prevent new violent clashes, hundreds of Israeli police officers were posted on Saturday evening in East Jerusalem on the border with the Old City. There were a few minor skirmishes at the Damascus Gate, one of the main entrances to the Temple Mount with the Al-Aqsa Mosque. As an AFP reporter reported, Palestinians there pelted the police with water bottles, the police then used stun grenades. In addition, young Palestinians set fire to several garbage trucks in a nearby street. According to the police, around a hundred Palestinians threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the Kalandika border crossing between Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In the past few days, tensions between Muslim Palestinians and Jewish Israelis had been fueled by a series of videos. They show how young Arabs attack ultra-Orthodox Jews and how Jewish extremists harass Arabs on the street at night. On Thursday evening, the right-wing extremist Jewish Lahava organization organized a march in Jerusalem.
Heaviest shelling since the beginning of the year
More than 120 people were injured in clashes between Lavaha supporters and angry Palestinians on Thursday. It was the worst clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in years. More riots followed on Friday evening.
Because of the violence on Thursday, the armed wing of radical Islamic Hamas had assured the Palestinians in East Jerusalem of its support. 36 rockets were shot down on Israel from the Gaza Strip – according to the Israeli military, it was the most violent shelling since the beginning of the year. According to the report, some of the projectiles were intercepted by the “Iron Domes” missile defense system, and more were struck in the open.
The Israeli government met for a crisis meeting on Saturday because of the escalation of violence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then called on “all sides” to calm down. Law and order would have to be observed. His government stands for “freedom of religion for all residents and visitors to Jerusalem,” assured Netanyahu.
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