Four killed as protests escalate
Hundreds injured in violence with Israeli forces at Gaza City
GAZA CITY: Four Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded in violence with Israeli forces across the Palestinian territories, as tens of thousands of people joined new protests against Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
US President Donald Trump’s Dec 6 announcement that he would break with decades of American policy and move his embassy to Jerusalem has stirred international condemnation, as well as protests across the Palestinian territories and Arab world.
Demonstrators have burned American and Israeli flags and trampled on pictures of Trump amid concerns his announcement would lead to major bloodshed.
On Friday, three men were killed in violent clashes between Israeli troops and stone- throwing Palestinians.
Two died along the border of Israel and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the Hamas group that rules the enclave had called for another “day of rage” against Trump’s decision.
A third was killed in clashes north of Jerusalem after being shot dead in the chest by the Israeli army, the health ministry said.
The fourth man stabbed an Israeli border police officer near a checkpoint on the outskirts of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, before being shot, police said.
The assailant, who later died of his wounds, wore what appeared to be a suicide vest, though it was unclear if it was operational.
The violence comes days before US Vice President Mike Pence is due to visit Israel, though he will no longer meet with Palestinian officials after they cancelled meetings in protest at the embassy move.
Protests broke out across the
West Bank, with major ones taking place in Hebron and Nablus, after the end of the weekly Muslim prayers.
In Gaza, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets and a few thousand clashed with Israeli forces along different parts of the border.
The Palestinian health ministry said 164 people were injured in
Gaza, with five in serious condition, while more than 100 were hospitalised across the West Bank
The Israeli army said around 2,500 people were involved in “riots” across the West Bank and about 3,500 in Gaza.
Friday’s death brought to eight the number of Palestinians killed in violence or air strikes since Trump’s Jerusalem move. — AFP