Israel’s military hit sites in Lebanon and Gaza early on Friday, in retaliation for rocket attacks it blamed on Hamas, as tensions following police raids this week on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem threatened to spiral out of control.
Israeli authorities said two people were killed during a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank on Friday.
Israel’s military said a shooting attack was carried out on a vehicle near the Hamra settlement. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said two women were killed and a third was seriously wounded.
According to the Associated Press, violence again broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound before dawn prayers on Friday as “Israeli police wielding batons descended on crowds of Palestinian worshippers, who chanted slogans praising Hamas as they tried to squeeze into the site”.
“An hour later, according to videos, people leaving the prayers staged a vast protest on the limestone courtyard, with Palestinians raising their fists and shouting in support of Hamas rocket fire”, the report added. It further said that the Israeli police forced their way into the compound.
Al Jazeera also shared a video of people fleeing in panic as Israeli forces broke up a group of Palestinian worshippers who wanted to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, to perform morning prayers on the third Friday of Ramazan.
The video also shows meals and drinks placed on tables for the worshippers as they were having their Sehri meal for fasting.
The Associated Press said the Israeli police “did not comment on the earlier beatings but said security forces entered the holy compound after prayers in response to ‘masked suspects’ who threw rocks toward officers at one of the gates”.
It further reported that the Israeli military said it “pounded Gaza with more airstrikes on Friday, hitting 10 targets that it described as underground tunnels, along with weapons production and development sites belonging largely to the Hamas militant group”. “There were no immediate reports of casualties in Gaza, but the Palestinian Health Ministry said that one of the strikes caused some damage to a children’s hospital in Gaza City,” the Associated Press reported.. AP
Regarding the situation after the attack earlier today, it reported that “even as calm returned to Al-Aqsa a few hours after the burst of violence, the situation remained tense ahead of midday Friday prayers”.
Loud blasts rocked different areas of Gaza, as Israel said its jets hit 10 targets including tunnels and weapons manufacturing and development sites of Hamas, which controls the blockaded southern coastal strip.
At around 4am, the military said it had also struck three Hamas infrastructure targets in southern Lebanon, where residents around the area of the Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the southern city of
“We strongly condemn the blatant Zionist aggression against Lebanon in the vicinity of Tyre at dawn today,” Hamas said.
Two Lebanese security sources said the strike hit a small structure on farmland near the area from which the rockets had been launched earlier. The strike appeared to have left a large crater in farmland in the south, according to Reuters witnesses. AP
