UNREST EXPLODES
JERUSALEM: At least 20 people were killed after Israel launched air strikes on Gaza on Monday in response to rockets fired by Hamas and other Palestinian militants, amid spiralling violence sparked by unrest at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Gaza authorities claimed that nine children and a senior Hamas commander were among the dead, while 65 other people were wounded in an escalating situation that sparked an urgent UN Security Council meeting and rare condemnation by the US Secretary of State.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hamas had crossed a “red line” by directing missiles towards Jerusalem and that the Jewish state would “respond with force”.
“We will not tolerate attacks on our territory, our capital, our citizens and our soldiers. Those who attack us will pay a heavy price,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Israel’s army said 150 rockets had been fired from Gaza, dozens of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome Aerial Defence System, with no casualties reported.
“We have started, and I repeat started, to attack military targets in Gaza,” army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said. “We have made preparations for various scenarios, including high intensity ones. Hamas will get the message.”
The military said the air strikes had targeted “two rocket launchers, two military posts”, a tunnel and eight Hamas operatives in Gaza.
Hamas sources confirmed that one of their commanders, Mohammed Fayyad, had been killed in the attack.
Tensions in Jerusalem have flared since Israeli riot police clashed with Palestinian worshippers on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in the city’s worst disturbances since 2017.
Nightly unrest since then at the Al-Aqsa compound has left hundreds of Palestinians wounded, drawing international calls for a de-escalation and sharp rebukes from across the Muslim world.
Diplomatic sources said Egypt and Qatar, which have mediated in past IsraeliHamas conflicts, were attempting to calm tensions.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken strongly condemned the rocket attacks by Hamas, saying they “need to stop immediately”.
“All sides need to deescalate, reduce tensions, and take practical steps to calm things down,” he said.
The US was said to be working “behind the scenes” to try to calm the situation.