JERUSALEM: Tensions in Jerusalem sparked the worst round of cross-border violence between Israel and the Gaza Strip in months on Saturday, with Palestinian militants firing at least 30 rockets and Israel striking back at targets operated by Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
Skirmishes have spiked in recent days in Jerusalem, which has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and is home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Residents braced for possible further unrest as police stepped up security and the US Embassy appealed for calm.
On Friday, Israeli police said 44 people were arrested and 20 officers were wounded in a night of chaos in Jerusalem, where security forces separately clashed with Palestinians angry about Ramadan restrictions and Jewish extremists who held an anti-Arab march nearby.
The incidents in Jerusalem triggered a flare-up in Gaza. Hamas’ armed wing warned Israel “not to test” its patience and militants in the Palestinian enclave started firing rockets into southern Israel late Friday and continued through Saturday morning.
The Israeli military said its aircraft and tanks struck rocket launchers and unspecified underground infrastructure for Hamas. The militant group did not claim responsibility for the rocket attacks, but a small military formation affiliated with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said it fired some of the missiles.
Sirens warning of incoming rockets from Gaza kept blaring in southern Israel. Air defenses intercepted some of the rockets. There were no reports of injuries on either side.
At dawn, hundreds of people in Gaza challenged nightly curfews imposed by Hamas to curb the coronavirus outbreak and took to the streets in an act of solidarity with fellow Palestinians in Jerusalem, burning tires.
There were concerns the violence could reignite following Friday noon prayers at a major holy site in Jerusalem, but thousands of worshippers dispersed peacefully after Muslim religious leaders called for restraint.
But in the evening, dozens of Palestinians marched toward an entrance to the walled Old City of Jerusalem and clashed with Israeli police, which said the protesters had thrown stones and other items at officers. Six Palestinians were injured with two hospitalized.
Palestinians have clashed with Israeli police on a nightly basis since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The tensions began when police placed barricades outside the Old City’s Damascus Gate, where Muslims traditionally gather to enjoy the evening after the daytime fast.
The clashes intensified Thursday evening when hundreds of Palestinians hurled stones and bottles at police, who fired a water cannon and stun grenades to disperse them. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded in the melee.
At the same time, a far-right Jewish group known as Lahava led a march of hundreds of protesters chanting “Arabs get out!” toward the Damascus Gate. The show of force came in response to videos circulated on TikTok showing Palestinians slapping religious Jews at random. Other videos made in response to them appear to show Jews assaulting Arabs. After keeping them a few hundred yards away from Damascus Gate, police used water cannon, stun grenades and mounted police to push far-right protesters back toward mostly Jewish west Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. Its fate has been one of the most divisive issues in the peace process, which ground to a halt more than a decade ago.
Early Saturday, Jordan strongly condemned “the racist attacks on Palestinians.” Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi tweeted: “As the occupying power under international law, Israel is responsible for stopping these attacks & for the dangerous consequences of failing to do so.”
The US Embassy said it was “deeply concerned” about the violence in recent days. “We hope all responsible voices will promote an end to incitement, a return to calm, and respect for the safety and dignity of everyone in Jerusalem,” it said in a statement.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians attended weekly prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday. The site is the third holiest in Islam and the holiest for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, condemned the “police and settlers’ attack on Palestinians in Jerusalem” in his sermon. But he called on worshippers to remain calm and not to give the other side an excuse to storm the compound. They dispersed peacefully after prayers and there were no immediate reports of unrest.
The sprawling hilltop compound has seen clashes on a number of occasions over the years and was the epicenter of the 2000 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
Hamas meanwhile staged demonstrations across Gaza after Friday prayers, reiterating its support for armed struggle. “After a long series of protests and demonstrations, we have reached the conclusion that without weapons, we cannot liberate our land, protect our holy sites, bringing back our people to their land or maintain our dignity,” senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said.
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Jerusalem tension triggers Gaza-Israel fire exchange
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Jerusalem tension triggers Gaza-Israel fire exchange
- Israeli aircraft and tanks struck rocket launchers and unspecified underground infrastructure for Hamas
- A military unit affiliated with the leftist PFLP claims it fired some missiles on Israeli targets
Iran vows fast trials over protests after Trump threat
Paris, France: Iran on Wednesday vowed fast-track trials for people arrested over a massive wave of protests, after US President Donald Trump threatened “very strong action” if the Islamic republic goes ahead with hangings.
In Tehran, authorities held a funeral ceremony for over 100 members of the security forces and other “martyrs” killed in the demonstrations, which authorities have branded as “riots” while accusing protesters of waging “acts of terror.”
The protest movement across Iran, initially sparked by economic grievances, has turned into one of the biggest challenges yet to the clerical leadership since it took power in 1979.
Demonstrators have defied the authorities’ zero-tolerance for dissent by turning out in protests all around the country, even as authorities insist they have regained the upper hand.
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on a visit to a prison holding protest detainees that “if a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly,” in comments broadcast by state television.
Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held in public and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.
Footage broadcast by state media showed the judiciary chief seated before an Iranian flag in a large, ornate room in the prison, interrogating a prisoner himself.
The detainee, dressed in grey clothing and his face blurred, is accused of taking Molotov cocktails to a park in Tehran.
- Blackout -
Trump on Tuesday said in a CBS News interview that the United States would act if Iran began hanging protesters.
“We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” said the American leader, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention.
“When they start killing thousands of people — and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” Trump said.
Iranian authorities called the American warnings a “pretext for military intervention.”
Rights groups accuse the government of fatally shooting protesters and masking the scale of the crackdown with an Internet blackout imposed on January 8.
Internet monitor Netblocks said in a post to X on Wednesday that the blackout had now lasted 132 hours.
Some information has trickled out of Iran however. New videos on social media, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.
- Calls to halt executions -
Iranian prosecutors have said authorities would press capital charges of “waging war against God” on some detainees.
According to state media, hundreds of people have been arrested.
State media has also reported on the arrest of a foreign national for espionage in connection with the protests.
No details were given on the person’s nationality or identity.
The US State Department on its Farsi language X account said 26-year-old protester Erfan Soltani had been sentenced to be executed on Wednesday.
“Erfan is the first protester to be sentenced to death, but he won’t be the last,” the State Department said, adding more than 10,600 Iranians had been arrested.
Rights group Amnesty International called on Iran to immediately halt all executions, including Soltani’s.
Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said it had confirmed 734 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, but warned the death toll was likely far higher.
“The real number of those killed is likely in the thousands,” IHR’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.
Iranian state media has said dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, with their funerals turning into large pro-government rallies.
- Khamenei in hiding -
At Wednesday’s funeral ceremony in Tehran, thousands of people waved flags of the Islamic republic as prayers were read out for the dead outside Tehran University, according to images broadcast on state television.
“Death to America!” read banners held up by people attending the rally, while others carried photos of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Another image could be seen at the rally showing Trump’s assassination attempt, captioned: “This time it will not miss the target.”
It appeared to be referring to the assassination attempt against Trump during a campaign rally in 2024.
Amir, an Iraqi computer scientist, returned to Baghdad from Iran on Monday and described dramatic scenes in Tehran during protests on Thursday night.
“My friends and I saw protesters in Tehran’s Sarsabz neighborhood amid a heavy military presence. The police were firing rubber bullets,” he told AFP in Iraq.
In power since 1989 and now aged 86, Khamenei has faced significant challenges, most recently the 12-day war in June against Israel, which forced him to go into hiding.
Analysts have cautioned that it is premature to predict the immediate demise of the theocratic system, pointing to the repressive levers the leadership controls, including the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is charged with safeguarding the Islamic revolution.
In Tehran, authorities held a funeral ceremony for over 100 members of the security forces and other “martyrs” killed in the demonstrations, which authorities have branded as “riots” while accusing protesters of waging “acts of terror.”
The protest movement across Iran, initially sparked by economic grievances, has turned into one of the biggest challenges yet to the clerical leadership since it took power in 1979.
Demonstrators have defied the authorities’ zero-tolerance for dissent by turning out in protests all around the country, even as authorities insist they have regained the upper hand.
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on a visit to a prison holding protest detainees that “if a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly,” in comments broadcast by state television.
Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held in public and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.
Footage broadcast by state media showed the judiciary chief seated before an Iranian flag in a large, ornate room in the prison, interrogating a prisoner himself.
The detainee, dressed in grey clothing and his face blurred, is accused of taking Molotov cocktails to a park in Tehran.
- Blackout -
Trump on Tuesday said in a CBS News interview that the United States would act if Iran began hanging protesters.
“We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” said the American leader, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention.
“When they start killing thousands of people — and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” Trump said.
Iranian authorities called the American warnings a “pretext for military intervention.”
Rights groups accuse the government of fatally shooting protesters and masking the scale of the crackdown with an Internet blackout imposed on January 8.
Internet monitor Netblocks said in a post to X on Wednesday that the blackout had now lasted 132 hours.
Some information has trickled out of Iran however. New videos on social media, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.
- Calls to halt executions -
Iranian prosecutors have said authorities would press capital charges of “waging war against God” on some detainees.
According to state media, hundreds of people have been arrested.
State media has also reported on the arrest of a foreign national for espionage in connection with the protests.
No details were given on the person’s nationality or identity.
The US State Department on its Farsi language X account said 26-year-old protester Erfan Soltani had been sentenced to be executed on Wednesday.
“Erfan is the first protester to be sentenced to death, but he won’t be the last,” the State Department said, adding more than 10,600 Iranians had been arrested.
Rights group Amnesty International called on Iran to immediately halt all executions, including Soltani’s.
Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said it had confirmed 734 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, but warned the death toll was likely far higher.
“The real number of those killed is likely in the thousands,” IHR’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.
Iranian state media has said dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, with their funerals turning into large pro-government rallies.
- Khamenei in hiding -
At Wednesday’s funeral ceremony in Tehran, thousands of people waved flags of the Islamic republic as prayers were read out for the dead outside Tehran University, according to images broadcast on state television.
“Death to America!” read banners held up by people attending the rally, while others carried photos of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Another image could be seen at the rally showing Trump’s assassination attempt, captioned: “This time it will not miss the target.”
It appeared to be referring to the assassination attempt against Trump during a campaign rally in 2024.
Amir, an Iraqi computer scientist, returned to Baghdad from Iran on Monday and described dramatic scenes in Tehran during protests on Thursday night.
“My friends and I saw protesters in Tehran’s Sarsabz neighborhood amid a heavy military presence. The police were firing rubber bullets,” he told AFP in Iraq.
In power since 1989 and now aged 86, Khamenei has faced significant challenges, most recently the 12-day war in June against Israel, which forced him to go into hiding.
Analysts have cautioned that it is premature to predict the immediate demise of the theocratic system, pointing to the repressive levers the leadership controls, including the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is charged with safeguarding the Islamic revolution.
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