Huge explosions rock Gaza as Israeli warplanes launch first airstrikes since ceasefire

19

View
comments

Israeli aircraft have launched new airstrikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, ending a brief ceasefire between the warring powers.

Israel’s military said the explosions were a response to the launching of incendiary balloons that caused fires in fields in southern Israel.

In a statement, the military said that it was ‘ready for all scenarios, including renewed fighting in the face of continued terrorist acts emanating from Gaza’.

The attacks, following an Israeli nationalist march in East Jerusalem that angered Palestinians, were the first launched by Israel and Gaza militants since an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire ended 11 days of cross-border fighting last month.

Israel’s new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, had said in the past that the Israeli government should not tolerate incendiary balloons, and must retaliate as if Hamas had fired rockets into Israel. 

Hamas had threatened to take action in response to an Israeli nationalist march on Tuesday through East Jerusalem.

Thousands of Israeli far-right nationalists chanted ‘Death to Arabs’ as they marched in a flag-waving procession through East Jerusalem, after Palestinians called for a ‘Day of Rage’ and condemned the event.

The flare-up is a first test for Israel’s new government, a coalition representing a cross section of views on the ongoing conflict.

The strikes, the military said, came in response to the launching of the balloons, which the Israeli fire brigade reported caused 20 blazes in open fields in communities near the Gaza border.

A Hamas spokesman, confirming the Israeli attacks, said Palestinians would continue to pursue their ‘brave resistance and defend their rights and sacred sites’ in Jerusalem.

Hours earlier, thousands of flag-waving Israelis congregated around the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City before heading to Judaism’s holy Western Wall, drawing Palestinian anger and condemnation.

Israel, which occupied East Jerusalem in a 1967 war and later annexed it in a move that has not won international recognition, regards the entire city as its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state that would include the West Bank and Gaza.

Prior to Tuesday’s march, Israel beefed up its deployment of the Iron Dome anti-missile system in anticipation of possible rocket attacks from Gaza.

But as the marchers began to disperse after nightfall in Jerusalem, there was no sign of rocket fire from the enclave.

The procession was originally scheduled for May 10 as part of ‘Jerusalem Day’ festivities that celebrate Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem.

At the last minute, that march was diverted away from the Damascus Gate and the Old City’s Muslim Quarter, but the move was not enough to dissuade Hamas from firing rockets towards Jerusalem, attacks that set off last month’s round of fighting.

Israeli ultranationalists chant ‘Death to Arabs’ during parade through Jerusalem as Palestinians condemn ‘provocation’ and call for a ‘day of rage’ in response

Thousands of Israeli far-right nationalists chanted ‘Death to Arabs’ as they marched in a flag-waving procession through East Jerusalem today, after Palestinians called for a ‘Day of Rage’ and condemned the event. 

Tuesday’s event posed a challenge to Israel’s new government as police in riot gear diverted crowds made up of many far-right nationalists away from a known social spot for Palestinians.

Last month, Israeli-Palestinian confrontations in contested Jerusalem helped trigger 11 days of cross-border fighting between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group before a ceasefire.

Today, Israeli police on horseback and in riot gear cordoned off areas leading to the walled Old City’s flashpoint Damascus Gate, the main entry to the Muslim Quarter which has an overwhelmingly Palestinian population.

It is understood that more than 2,500 Israeli Police were securing the march and the Israeli Army is preparing for the possibility of yet another escalation with Gaza.

Israeli far-right nationalists were heard chanting ‘Death to Arabs’ during the march, while Palestinians slammed the event as a ‘provocation’ and called for ‘Day of Rage’ protests in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The march was originally scheduled for May 10 as part of ‘Jerusalem Day’ festivities that celebrate Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war but was postponed until this month.

But despite the threat of renewed violence, the ‘March of the Flags’ was still given the go-ahead for 5.30pm local time today and tested the newly formed Israeli government.

At one point, several dozen youths, jumping and waving their hands in their air, chanted: ‘Death to Arabs!’ In another anti-Arab chant, they yelled: ‘May your village burn.’

In a scathing condemnation on Twitter, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said those shouting racist slogans were ‘a disgrace to the Israeli people’. 

He added: ‘The fact that there are radicals for whom the Israeli flag represents hatred and racism is abominable and unforgivable.’

The crowd, while boisterous, appeared to be much smaller than during last month’s parade. From the Damascus Gate, they proceeded around the Old City to the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray.

Ahead of the march, Israeli police cleared the area in front of Damascus Gate, shut down roads to traffic, ordered shops to close and sent away young Palestinian protesters.

But tensions erupted during the Palestinian protest against the far-right march as Israeli forces intervened with plastic bullets and tear gas bombs, while demonstrators threw rocks and burned tires in Jerusalem. 

‘Jerusalem is for all religions, but Jerusalem is in Israel. And in Israel, we must be able to go wherever we want, with our flag,’ said marcher Doron Avrahami, 50, channelling right-wing frustrations with police restrictions.

The crowd of mostly religious Jews danced and sung ‘the people of Israel live’ while carrying blue and white Israeli flags during the march before pilling into the plaza in front of the Damascus Gate, usually a popular social spot for Palestinians.

Police were expected to prevent marchers from going through the gate, which is also home to shrines sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. They were to take a peripheral route instead, to Judaism’s sacred Western Wall.

‘Take a good look at our flag. Live and suffer,’ one marcher, a megaphone in one hand and a cigar in the other, shouted in Hebrew at Palestinian merchants on the other side of police barriers erected on an East Jerusalem street.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh also warned of the dangerous repercussions from allowing extremist Israelis to take part in the flag march as tensions remain fresh between Palestinians and Israelis.

He said: ‘We warn of the dangerous repercussions that may result from the occupying power’s intention to allow extremist Israeli settlers to carry out the Flag March in occupied Jerusalem.’

Israel, which occupied and annexed East Jerusalem in a move that has not won international recognition, regards the entire city as its capital. But Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state that would include the West Bank and Gaza.

Just hours before the event was due to start today, incendiary balloons launched from Gaza caused several fires in fields in Israeli communities near the border with the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli fire brigade said.

Such incidents had stopped along with the ceasefire that ended last month’s Israel-Gaza fighting.

Hamas warned of renewed hostilities over the march, testing the new Israeli government of Naftali Bennett, which approved the procession along the amended route, which appeared to be designed to avoid friction with Palestinians.

Bennett heads a far-right party, and diverting the procession could anger members of his religious base and expose him to accusations he was giving Hamas veto power over events in Jerusalem. 

Sitting on a bench outside the police cordon, Khalil Mitwani, a 50-year-old Palestinian, said of the marchers: ‘They are making a big problem in Jerusalem. All the people here want peace – why make problems here?’

Meanwhile, U.N. Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said on Twitter: ‘Tensions (are) rising again in Jerusalem at a very fragile & sensitive security & political time, when UN & Egypt are actively engaged in solidifying the ceasefire.’

He called on all parties to ‘act responsibly & avoid any provocations that could lead to another round of confrontation’. 

But earlier today, before the marchers arrived at Damascus Gate, thousands of Palestinians congregated and at least 17 were injured in clashes with Israeli police firing stun grenades, the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service said. 

Violence had erupted near the Damascus Gate in the Old City before the far-right Israeli groups marched through the capital in a delayed celebration of Jerusalem Day.

Video footage captured crowds clashing with deployed security forces, with feuding sides seen hurling projectiles at each other as they shoved through the streets.

It is understood at least two Palestinians were arrested and four others were removed from the Temple Mount during the chaos today.

Elsewhere, iron barriers were erected to prevent Palestinians from reaching the Damascus Gate, where group dancing with Israeli flags later took place. 

Earlier, Palestinians had called for a ‘Day of Rage’ in Gaza and the West Bank after condemning the planned procession as a ‘provocation’ amid a very fragile peace.

Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas had warned of renewed hostilities if it went ahead.  

The ‘March of the Flags’ was initially approved by Israel’s new government on Monday, hours after Benjamin Netanyahu handed over power to Naftali Bennett. 

The controversial march typically starts at Damascus Gate and enters the Muslim Quarter, before travelling to the Western Wall plaza in the Jewish Quarter.

Today’s route instead saw participants proceed outside the Old City’s walls to the Jaffa Gate, then walk down David Street and Chain Gate Street before entering the Western Wall plaza.

The procession avoided the Muslim Quarter, which has an overwhelmingly Palestinian population, despite David Street and Chain Gate Street running through an Arab market of Palestinian tradesmen.

Around 54 Jews visited the Temple Mount today, according to the Jerusalem Post. 

The ‘March of the Flags’ was organised by a collection of right-wing organisations, such as Im Tirtzu, the Bnei Akiva and Ezra, alongside several councils in the West Bank.    

An original march was re-routed to avoid the walled Old City’s Muslim Quarter on May 10 when tensions in Jerusalem led Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas to fire rockets towards the holy city, helping set off 11 days of deadly fighting.

However, Israeli rightists accused their government of caving into Hamas by changing its route. 

They rescheduled the procession after an Egyptian-mediated Gaza truce took hold.

Today’s march posed an immediate challenge for Bennett, who took office on Sunday and brought veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s record-long rule to an end.

Bennett’s internal security minister approved the march yesterday.

The route change could expose Bennett’s patchwork coalition to accusations from Netanyahu, in the opposition, and his right-wing allies of giving Hamas veto power over events in Jerusalem.

‘The time has come for Israel to threaten Hamas and not for Hamas to threaten Israel,’ prominent far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Twitter. 

Protests were planned for 6pm across the Gaza Strip, and Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction previously called on Palestinians to flock to the Old City to counter the march.

‘Tensions (are) rising again in Jerusalem at a very fragile & sensitive security & political time, when UN & Egypt are actively engaged in solidifying the ceasefire,’ U.N. Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said on Twitter.

‘Urge all relevant parties to act responsibly & avoid any provocations that could lead to another round of confrontation,’ he said.

The Israeli military made preparations for a possible escalation in Gaza over the march, Israeli media reported, and the US Embassy in Jerusalem prohibited its employees and their families from entering the Old City today.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a state they seek to establish in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem in a move that has not won international recognition after capturing it in a 1967 war, regards the entire city as its capital.