Palestinian rocket fire, Israeli air strikes in Gaza
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[May 11, 2021]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian
militants fired barrages of rockets into Israel and Israeli warplanes
pounded Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday, and unrest also spread
within Israeli Arab communities in Jerusalem.
A Palestinian official said Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations were
trying to intervene to stem the violence - the worst in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 2019 - as the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan peaks.
The Gaza health ministry said 23 Palestinians, including nine children,
had been killed and 107 wounded by Israeli strikes in the destitute
enclave since clashes surged on Monday.
Israel disputed the account, saying it had killed at least 15 fighters
from Hamas - the dominant force in Gaza - and allied factions. It said
at least six people were reported wounded by the salvoes in southern
Israel.
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The escalation began with confrontations at Al-Asqa Mosque in the heart
of Jerusalem's walled Old City on the compound known to Jews as Temple
Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary - the most sensitive site in
the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
On Monday, more than 300 Palestinians were injured there in clashes with
Israeli police, who fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas in
the compound, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Police
said 21 officers were hurt in the skirmishes.
Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital, a status not generally
recognized internationally. Palestinians want the eastern sector -
captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War - as the capital of a
future state and have been incensed by Israeli court-ordered evictions
there to make way for Jewish settlers.
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Flames and smoke rise during Israeli air strikes amid a flare-up of
Israel-Palestinian violence, in the southern Gaza Strip May 11,
2021. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Hamas on Monday fired on the Jerusalem area from Gaza
for the first time since a 2014 war, causing no casualties but
crossing what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a
"red line" which, he said, would spell fighting "that could last a
while".
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said it would keep fighting "as long as
the Occupation (Israel) does not end all forms of aggression and
terrorism in Jerusalem and Al-Asqa mosque".
The Israeli military said its air defence shot down around 90% of
rockets that crossed the Gaza border. It also said the civilian toll
in Gaza may have been due to Palestinian rockets falling short.
Police reported sometimes violent pro-Palestinian rallies in several
Israeli Arab communities. Israel's population is 21% Arab, most of
them Muslim.
In the ethnically mixed town of Lode, witnesses quoted by Israeli
media said one or two armed Jews shot at rioting Arabs, killing one.
The account could not immediately be confirmed. Israeli police said
it had arrested a Lode man for suspected involvement in a shooting
that killed another resident and wounded two more.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Dan Williams and Ari Rabinovitch;
Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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