Live: Israel and Hamas claim victory as fragile ceasefire holds
Live Updates
In neighbouring Jordan, hundreds have gathered near the border with the occupied West Bank today to show their solidarity with Palestinians.
Palestinians are coming out in large numbers across various cities in the West Bank to voice their rejection of Israel’s use of air strikes on Gaza and draconian crackdowns on protesters and worshippers.
Our correspondent on the ground, Shatha Hammad, has reported the following:
- South Nablus: An altercation broke out today between young Palestinians and Israeli security forces.
- Huwara: Large numbers of demonstrators, chanting protest songs, have gathered in the town's checkpoint, south of Nablus.
- Al-Khalil, Hebron: A Palestinian man was injured during violent confrontations. Protesters have also gathered in the village of Tarkuma, west of al-Khalil.
- Nabi Saleh: Violent confrontations are taking place in the village north of Ramallah.
- Qarawat Bani Hassan: Israeli forces have cracked down on tens of protesters in the town west of Salfit.
- Qalqilya: A Palestinian woman has been injured by live ammunition from Israeli forces. Over 25 protesters also suffered from breathing difficulties as a result of tear gas fired.
- Tulkarm: A Palestinian has been injured as the situation escalates.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, 101 injuries were recorded from the early hours of Friday morning until now. Nine protesters were wounded by gunfire in Jenin, while in Nablus four have sustained gunshot injuries.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also recorded a number of cases of Israeli forces violently quashing protests, causing numerous injuries.
This comes after another night of fear and unrest on Thursday.
Palestinian protests continue today at the Beit El settlement, close to the city of Ramallah, as violence flares up across other parts of the West Bank.
Protests in and around the illegal settlement have been ongoing for days.
Middle East Eye correspondent Faten Elwan was live moments ago from Beit El on our Instagram page, filming the demonstration and speaking to protestors. She will be live again soon.
Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man, identified as Mohammed Ruhi Hammad, in the town of Silwad east of Ramallah on Friday afternoon.
The Israeli army alleged that Hammad attempted to carry out a car-ramming. No Israeli casualties were reported.
According to Middle East Eye’s correspondent on the ground, confrontations broke out in Silwad after news of the death broke, and live ammunition was being used on the ground in the village of Budrus, east of Ramallah.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is hosting Friday prayers today, the first after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. How they play out could dictate the trajectory of the coming days.
The mosque, one of Islam's three holiest sites, has long been an emblem of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.
Heavy-handed crackdowns on worshippers and protestors last Friday by Israeli security forces escalated the violence and were part of the reason Hamas fired rockets north into Israel.
So how Israeli authorities decide to police the prayers - and the protests likely to come after - is key.
Middle East Eye has a live stream from al-Aqsa on our Facebook page:
More Palestinians in Gaza City were forced to leave their houses on Friday morning as Israeli bombing from air strikes and artillery continued and the Israeli army carried on massing near the besieged enclave.
Welcome to MEE's Friday coverage of the unfolding events on the ground.
Israel continued to bomb the Gaza Strip with air strikes and artillery on Friday, as it continued its deployment of troops and tanks near the besieged enclave.
The death toll in Gaza has now reached 119, with 830 reported wounded, Gaza's health ministry has said.
The deaths include 31 children and 19 women.
US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar rebuked Israeli government policies against Palestinians, calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an "ethno-nationalist leader."
Speaking from the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday, Omar invoked Nakba, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians leading to the establishment of the state of Israel, to contextualise the current crisis.
"Now consider that 78 percent of their land was taken from them," she said of Palestinians after the founding of Israel. "Since then, 5.6 million Palestinians have been continually displaced from their homes in one of the largest among the lasting refugee crises in human history."
Omar said hope of a Palestinian state is slipping away because of Israel's policy of settlement expansion of displacing Palestinians.
She cited the recent Human Rights Report that concluded that Israel is guilty is practising apartheid against Palestinians.
"The Israeli government and their far-right, ethno-nationalist leader Benjamin Netanyahu has legally razed Palestinian ancestral homes, levelled entire neighbourhoods, and violently suppressed any resistance," Omar said.
"This is all to make way for illegal Israeli settlement outposts, designed to displace Palestinians from their homes and prevent a future Palestinian state."
The Israeli army early on Friday retracted its announcement that its troops had entered the Gaza Strip, blaming the confusion on an “internal communication” problem.
The army had earlier told the media that a ground incursion into the Gaza strip had started, in an ambiguous statement that had misled major news outlets.
"Israeli planes and troops on the ground are carrying out an attack in the Gaza Strip," the army said in a brief message,” the statement said just after midnight Friday.
The army published a clarification two hours later saying there were no soldiers in Gaza.
They United States has urged Americans to "reconsider travel" to Israel and the Palestinian territories, raising the travel advisory level to three from level two.
The US has four travel advisory levels. Level three is "reconsider travel". Level four is "do not travel."
"Rockets continue to impact the Gaza periphery and areas across Southern and Central Israel, including Jerusalem," a travel advisory updated by the State Department on Thursday says.
"There has been a marked increase in protests and violence throughout Israel. Recent incidents of violence include vandalism, rock throwing, burning of vehicles, and attacks on passersby. Protests and violence may continue to occur, some with little or no warning."
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib slammed the administration of President Joe Biden's handling of the crisis in the Palestinian territories and Israel, urging US politicians to recognise Palestinians' humanity.
Draped with a keffiyeh and often holding back tears, Tlaib delivered an impassioned speech in defence of Palestinian rights on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday.
"There has been absolutely no recognition of Palestinian humanity," Tlaib said. "If our own State Department can't even bring itself to acknowledge the killing of Palestinian children is wrong. Well, I will say it for the millions of Americans who stand with me against the killing of innocent children, no matter their ethnicity, or faith."
The administration has expressed sympathy for all victims but failed to condemn Israeli air strikes against Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure, including residential towers.
The State Department, Pentagon and White House have all repeatedly voiced support for what they call "Israel's right to defend itself."
Earlier in the week, State Department spokesperson Ned Price struggled to answer a question on whether Palestinians, too, have a right to self-defence.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reiterated the same message in a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Benny Gantz, according to a statement from the Pentagon.
"Secretary Austin conveyed the Department’s ironclad support for Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself and its people, and he strongly condemned the launching of rockets by Hamas and other terrorist groups that targeted Israeli civilians," Austin said.
In her speech, Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, criticised Austin along with President Biden and Secretary of State Tony Blinken.
"To read the statements from President Biden, Secretary Blinken, General Austin and leaders of both parties, you'd hardly know Palestinians existed at all."
A security source in south Lebanon told MEE that the rockets fired towards Israel on Thursday evening were launched from Basateen al-Qulayla, a coastal area near al-Qulayla village, around 1km from the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Rashidiya, outside the city of Tyre.
The source identified the rockets as Grad, a Russian-made short range projectile, and said they were set off by a timer.
The Israeli army said they landed in the sea.
"A short while ago, three rockets were fired from Lebanon into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of northern Israel," the military said in a tweet.
The Lebanese source said it was not immediately clear who was behind the rockets, adding that no one has been detained, contrary to earlier media reports.
There was no deployment of Lebanese security forces to the area following the incident, MEE's correspondent Adam Chamseddine said.
Hezbollah, which has a large security presence in the area, has not fought an all-out war with Israel since 2006. In the past, including during the 2014 Gaza war, Palestinian armed groups unrelated to Hezbollah have claimed firing rockets at Israel.
Israel resumed the bombardment on Gaza, late on Thursday evening, with Palestinians in the besieged territory reporting intense air raids.
Palestinian media and the Israeli both reported the heavy bombing, while on social media, people expressed fear about the loud sounds.
Many said that the bombing was taking place from the air and on the ground, leaving many Palestinians in a state of terror.
The Israeli army announced it is firing artillery from the ground into Gaza. Israeli "air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip," the Israeli army said in a tweet late on Thursday.
Palestinian groups in Gaza had warned Israel against an invasion of the territory.
"Amid suggestions of a ground operation, we say: Any ground incursion in the area in the Gaza Strip will be an opportunity to increase our share of dead and captured soldiers from the enemy, and we are ready to teach [Israel] harsh lessons," Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas's military wing, said earlier on Thursday.
Yehia Hamed, a former minister in the government of the late Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, has called on Cairo to open its borders and hospitals for injured Palestinians in Gaza.
Egypt, which controls Gaza's southern border, has helped Israel maintain a blockade on the Palestinian territory.
Hamed, who served as investment minister, has been living in exile since the 2013 coup that toppled Egypt's first democratically elected government.
Morsi died in Egyptian jail in 2019. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who rose to power after the coup has been closely aligned with Israel and the West.
