TWO KILLED IN GAZA AS TEHRAN STIRS TENSIONS OVER JERUSALEM
Revolutionary Guard commander telephones Islamist groups and promises support for violence
Two Palestinian terrorists were killed in an explosion on a Gaza street yesterday just hours after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander (IRGC) Qassem Soleimani phoned Islamist groups in the enclave to promise Tehran’s support for violence.
After the unexplained explosion that killed two members of Islamic Jihad on a motorcycle, the finger of blame pointed at Israel. But an examination of the scene by Islamic Jihad resulted in a statement admitting the blast was an accidental detonation.
Palestinian health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said the two men were killed in Beit Lahia and named them as Hussein Ghazi Nasrallah and Mustafa Al Sultan, both were in their 20s.
Family members at the hospital where the bodies were taken confirmed the two men were members of Islamic Jihad.
An Israeli military statement rejected the earlier accusation. It said: “Contrary to Palestinian reports, the [Israel Defence Forces] did not attack in the northern Gaza Strip.”
Four Palestinians were wounded, one seriously, by Israeli gunfire as they protested near the Israeli border fence in eastern Gaza City earlier in the day.
The IRGC commander made the offer of support in a phone call late on Monday with leaders of groups in Gaza, according to the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ website, Sepah News. Islamic Jihad has long-established ties with Iran but it is not known if it was involved in the call.
The Iranian agency said Iranbacked groups were ready to join with Islamist extremist factions in Gaza to defend the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Palestinians claim Jerusalem’s eastern sector, where the mosque stands, as the capital of a future state, and they oppose Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to the city.
As demonstrations erupted throughout the region, Hamas called last week for another uprising against Israel in response.
Maj Gen Soleimani spoke a day after the head of Lebanon’s Hizbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, called on all resistance groups in the region to come up with a unified strategy to take back Jerusalem.
Iran’s Quds force operates beyond the country’s borders and has fought ISIL in Iraq and backed president Bashar Al Assad in Syria. Iran also supports proxies such as Hizbollah and Hamas that have warred with Israel.
Violence along the Israel-Gaza border has flared since Mr Trump’s Jerusalem decision and the Israeli military’s demolition on Sunday of a cross-border tunnel it said was dug by Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the small coastal enclave.
On Monday, Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket fired by militants in Gaza. Shortly afterwards, Israel responded with tank fire and air strikes targeting Hamas positions.
In recent years Israel has largely refrained from carrying out so-called “targeted killings” of
terrorist suspects in the enclave in an apparent attempt to avoid heightening tensions along the Gaza border.
The Palestinians oppose Mr Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, according to a poll released yesterday.
It found that 91 per cent of respondents regard the move as a threat to Palestinian interests. Asked about responses, 45 per cent thought Palestinian leaders should cut all contacts with Washington, submit a complaint to the International Criminal Court and launch an armed uprising against Israel.
With the White House promising a peace plan in the new year, few believe the president’s pledge. Seventy-two per cent of respondents said they did not believe the Trump administration would submit a peace plan.
Egypt’s defence minister said chances for a Middle East peace deal had been diminished by the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem.
Sedki Sobhi said the move had undermined regional confidence that the US could inject new life into the peace process. “The chances to settle the Palestinian issue have declined,” he said.