JERUSALEM, April 18 – Israel shot down a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday, the Israeli military said, the first such attack in months, as tensions around a focal point of the shrine in Jerusalem raged pro-Palestinian rhetoric from Jordan and US mediation entailed efforts.
No faction in Gaza claimed responsibility for the launch, which followed warnings from the dominant Hamas Islamists of reprisals for Israeli behavior around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
Within hours, Israeli airstrikes hit camps used by Hamas and another Gaza faction, Palestinian sources said. The military said one target was a weapons factory. Nobody was hurt.
Since Friday, Al Aqsa — also revered by Jews as the remains of two ancient temples — has seen confrontations between Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli riot police in a reminder of the violence that helped fuel a Gaza war a year ago. Continue reading
Palestinians accuse Israel of invading al-Aqsa during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Israel says Palestinian protesters are trying to disrupt Muslim prayer for political ends and prevent visits from Jews, who are now celebrating Passover.
The tensions are complicating Israel’s security ties with Jordan, which is the keeper of Al Aqsa and has a Palestinian majority.
Jordan’s King Abdullah told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Israel’s al-Aqsa policy “seriously undermines” the chances of peace with the Palestinians, Amman said. Jordan has also subpoenaed Israel’s current ambassador.
Jordanian Prime Minister Hirer al-Khasawneh escalated the rhetoric, telling parliament: “I must commend those who are throwing their stones at all those Zionists who are desecrating the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the Israeli occupation government.”
Several passengers were injured when Israeli buses taking them to Jerusalem’s Old City were stoned by Palestinians on Sunday, police said, adding that Al-Aqsa protesters used stones in attacks on Jewish visitors and the police would have stored.
At least 152 Palestinians and eight police officers were injured in Friday’s clashes near Al-Aqsa, medics said.
“I take seriously statements blaming Israel for the violence we are being subjected to. Some are encouraging stone throwing,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a video statement released after al-Khasawneh’s televised remarks.
“This serves as a price for the instigators, top Hamas, trying to incite violence here in Jerusalem,” he said.
In Washington, the State Department said US officials called Israeli, Palestinian and Arab officials over the weekend to try to prevent tensions in Jerusalem from escalating. Continue reading
Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; writing by Dan Williams; Edited by Sandra Maler and Himani Sarkar