Live: Israel and Hamas claim victory as fragile ceasefire holds
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Palestinians have vowed to continue taking to the streets across parts of the West Bank to show solidarity with al-Aqsa Mosque and the Gaza Strip, which have come under repeated Israeli attacks.
What started off as peaceful chants about resisting occupation have turned into confrontations in some areas.
Scenes of chaos were evident in the city of Bethlehem, as Palestinians ran away from rubber bullets being shot at them in an attempt to disperse crowds. On the ground, people were left screaming and looking for safety, as the air was filled with tear gas and smoke.
Widely circulated videos on social media showed roadside fires in Hebron as people gathered in main centres to condemn Israeli violence. Videos shared online also showed a military bulldozer in one of the streets, in an attempt to remove the barricades set up by Palestinian protesters.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the city of Jenin to protest against the use of air strikes in Gaza. Streets quickly filled up with people denouncing the attacks on al-Aqsa, which was raided for the fourth time in a matter of days Tuesday.
Translation: Large protest in Jenin in solidarity with Al-Aqsa Mosque and resistance in Gaza
Protests also took place in the cities of Tulkarm, Tubas, Qalqilya and Ramallah as tensions climax and more casualties continue to rise in Gaza.
A Palestinian man, Hussein Ateyya al-Tity, has been killed during Israeli storming of Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
A photo of the man has been widely shared by several social media users, some also showed a video purportedly of his friends gathered around his body after he was shot.
Gaza's health ministry announced early on Wednesday that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza since Monday has increased to 35 civilians, including 12 children. A total of 220 people have been wounded, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, at least five Israelis have been killed by missiles fired from Gaza in retaliation for the air strikes, according to Haaretz. The Israeli paper said the fatalities included a seven year old boy and a 35 year old woman killed in a rocket attack on the city of Lod in central Israel.
The Sunrise Movement, a major climate advocacy group that pushes to combat global warming, has voiced support for Palestinians, saying in a series of tweets that "climate justice cannot exist without collective liberation."
"The struggles Palestinians face are deeply tied to racial and housing justice, and movements for Indigenous sovereignty," the organisation said on Tuesday.
"Fighting against settler-colonial violence and ethnic cleansing shouldn’t be controversial. The only option is doing what’s right."
As Israeli attacks on Jerusalem and Gaza escalate, hundreds of people gathered in front of the US State Department in Washington on Tuesday evening to protest in solidarity with Palestinians.
Waving Palestinian flags, donning keffiyehs, and holding signs reading "Save Sheikh Jarrah", the demonstrators called on President Joe Biden to condemn the violence against Palestinians and pressure Israel to stop the planned displacement of Palestinian East Jerusalem residents.
"There is no rhetoric to hide behind, but still you continue to fund these killers, this administration should be embarrassed. You should be embarrassed," said Laura Albast, an organiser with the Palestinian Youth Movement.
"We all heard the statements given by the State Department yesterday, shame on you."
The protesters were joined by House Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Andre Carson, who voiced support for stopping US aid to Israel from funding annexation or the demolition of Palestinian homes.
"I'm just not here just as a congresswoman," Tlaib said. "I'm also here as a descendant of the Palestinian people, as a person that is a granddaughter to a sitty (grandmother) that lives in the occupied territories - as the daughter of a mother who watched her homeland completely being destroyed."
The rally was organised by a coalition of groups including American Muslims for Palestine, the Palestinian Youth Movement, and Jewish Voice for Peace.
It came after the organisations sent a petition to the State Department, signed by more than 200,000 people, that called on the administration to pressure Israel to end the forced removal of Palestinian families from their homes across the Occupied Territories.
Israeli air strikes targeting a building in Gaza on Tuesday night have been captured live on camera, hours after journalists working from the same site had been evacuated.
Meanwhile, Palestinian groups in Gaza said they fired at least two hundred missiles towards the Israeli cities of Beersheba and Tel Aviv in retaliation for the air strikes.
Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, called on Palestinian citizens of Israel to "rise up" and continue to protest to claim their rights from the Israeli government.
In a brief voice note released in the early hours of Wednesday morning as several Palestinian towns in Israel errupted in protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and Jerusalem, Abu Ubaida urged the demonstrators to remain unwavering.
"Our people in occupied Palestine from 1948, our people in the blessed Jerusalem, in Jaffa and Akka (Acre) and Lod and Ramla and Umm al-Fahm and Negev and in every inch of Palestine - we are from you and you are from us," Abu Ubaida said.
"Stay put in your positions and confront the arrogance of the occupiers… Rise up, people of [this] sacred home and loyal guardians of Palestine."
Abu Ubaida emphasised removing the distinction between Palestinians inside Israel and Palestinians in the occupied territories.
We send "a salute to your giving that is the fuel to the revolution of our people and the liberation of our land," he said.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan reiterated President Joe Biden's "unwavering" support for what Washington calls Israel's "right to defend itself" in a call with his Israeli counterpart Meir Ben-Shabbat.
Sullivan "condemned the ongoing rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem and Tel Aviv," US National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement describing the call on Tuesday.
It was the second call between Sullivan and Ben-Shabbat in three days.
"He [Sullivan] conveyed the president’s unwavering support for Israel’s security and for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people, while protecting civilians," Horne said. "He also conveyed the United States' encouragement of steps toward restoring a sustainable calm."
The statement said the two officials agreed to remain engaged and discussed steps to restore calm. Sullivan also spoke to Egyptian officials on Tuesday, Horne added.
Palestinians have come out en mass on Tuesday evening across large parts of Palestinian cities in Israel and in the occupied West Bank to reject recent attacks on Palestinians in Jerusalem and Gaza.
The protests come following the fourth storming of al-Aqsa Mosque over the past week as well as the killing of dozens of Palestinians in Gaza in Israeli air strikes.
Hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel took to the streets of various cities, including Nazareth, Haifa, Jaffa and Lod to denounce the attacks on Gaza and stand in solidarity with residents of the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, who face imminent expulsion from their homes to make way for Israeli settlers.
Demonstrations also took place in the cities of Umm al-Fahm, al-Mashad, Tamra, Arara, amongst others. A heavy Israeli police presence was present on the ground. Local news outlet Arab48 reported two serious injuries among Palestinian demonstrators.
Crowds were dispersed using tear gas and rubber-coated bullets in several towns.
In Umm al-Fahm, Palestinian protesters carried out road blocks and set fire to tyres. Investigations have been launched after a police station was set on fire in Acre.
In Haifa, the violent dispersal of protesters resulted in injuries and a number of arrests of protesters. Israeli police later closed access to the roads in an effort to quell the growing number of people gathering.
Palestinians have raised concerns in recent days over the continued use of tear gas and stun grenades to deter protesters from gathering.
On Monday evening, a Palestinian man, identified as Moussa Hassona, was shot dead as protests continued in the city of Lod.
A demonstrator was seriously injured as a result of the impact of a fire bomb and suffocation from smoke inhalation in Sakhnin. Israeli police arrested several demonstrators in Jaffa, where Palestinians have been protesting for three days.
Israel’s Defence Minister Benny Gantz has since instructed the army to take measures to restore order in the various cities, and the public security minister later announced a state of emergency and further deployments to quell the protests.
Israeli forces killed a Palestinian security officer and injured another at a checkpoint south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank late on Tuesday, Wafa cited intelligence officials as saying.
The Palestinian news agency identified the slain officer as Ahmad Abdel Fattah Daraghmeh, saying, "the occupation army and settler gangs" killed him in "cold blood".
Wafa said Daraghmeh's body was handed to the Palestinian Authority later in the night, and was transported to Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus.
Israel’s public security minister declared a ‘special state of emergency’ in the restive city of Lod after Palestinian demonstrations were galvanised by the killing of a protester on Monday and renewed atacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“Everything necessary is done to restore law and order in Lod and throughout the country,” Amir Ohana, Israel’s public security minister, announced on Twitter.
He added that the security services have decided to deploy 16 Border Police reserve units to Lod from Judea and Samaria.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke on Tuesday evening with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, the Public Security Minister, the Inspector General of the Israel Police, the head of the National Security Council, the Attorney General and other senior officials regarding events in Lod.
“PM Netanyahu directed that lawbreakers be dealt with severely and that units on the ground be reinforced in order to restore quiet and order to the city forthwith,” a Twitter account for the office of the prime minister said.
On Monday, Palestinian protester Moussa Hassona was reportedly shot dead by an Israeli settler during a protest that erupted in Lod against the repeated storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli security forces.
Israeli forces have stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, late on Tuesday amid an escalation of violence and protests across Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The attack followed several Israeli assaults on worshippers inside the mosque over the past week.
Media outlets and social media users shared footage of heavily armed Israeli officers running towards the mosque from two separate directions.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that Israeli forces blocked medics from entering the mosque, amid attacks on Palestinians inside.
"Blocking medical rescue teams from reaching the wounded is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, which requires the occupying force to facilitate the mission of medics and provide healthcare to the sick and injured," the Red Crescent said in a Facebook post.
Israeli forces had injured scores of Palestinians over the past few days, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades into the mosque.
Meanwhile, some Palestinians in Jerusalem have reportedly received text messages warning them against participating in protests at the mosque.
"Hello! You have been identified to have taken part in violent acts at al-Aqsa mosque. We will hold you accountable. - Israeli intelligence," the messages read. MEE has so far been unable to confirm the provenance of these messages.
As Israeli attacks in Jerusalem intensify, thousands of protesters have marched in major cities around the globe to show solidarity with Palestinians under attack in Jerusalem and Gaza
Solidarity protests have taken place in Ankara, London, Washington, Rabat, Amman, Beirut, Cape Town, Toronto, Munich and Kuwait City, among others. More protests are expected, following the launch of Israel's air offensive - dubbed "Guardian of the Walls" - on the Gaza Strip.
The first strike of the operation on Monday evening resulted in more than two dozen deaths, including at least 10 children.
Protesters are widely calling on their governments to take action and pressure Israel to de-escalate its aggressive tactics in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
Jordan and Turkey have already taken diplomatic actions, with Amman summoning Israel's envoy to the country and Ankara withdrawing an invitation previously extended to Israel's energy minister.
Top Israeli officials said late on Friday that Israel is prepared for a long war in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to make Palestinian groups - Hamas and Islamic Jihad - pay a "heavy price" for rocket attacks on Israel. He said the country is bracing for a lengthy military campaign against Gaza.
"Hamas and Islamic Jihad have paid - and will pay - a heavy price for their aggression," Netanyahu said, according to Haaretz.
"It will take time. We’ll restore security for the citizens of Israel," he added.
Other Israeli officials also warned that the conflict may drag on.
Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz said the country has a "duty" to act against Palestinians.
"This is just the beginning," Gantz said on Friday, according to AFP, adding that Israel has many targets to hit in Gaza.
Hamas fired a barrage of rockets towards Tel Aviv in response to an Israeli air strike that destroyed a residential tower block in Gaza. Israeli raids have killed at least 30 Palestinians, including 10 children. Three Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rockets, according to Israeli reports.
Aviv Kochavi, chief of the Israeli army, said Israel is ready to fight "as much as needed".
A rocket attack on Tel Aviv and its suburbs by Hamas and Islamic Jihad has killed at least one person and halted flights out of the city's Ben Gurion Airport, Israeli media outlets have reported.
Hamas had said that it launched 130 rockets on the coastal Israeli city in response to an Israeli air strike that destroyed a 12-story residential tower in Gaza. Israeli raids on the Palestinian territory have killed at least 28 people, including 10 children.
The AP reported that Tuesday night's rockets towards the Tel Aviv area killed a 50-year-old woman, bringing the number of Israeli fatalities from the flare-up of violence to three.
The White House and Germany's Foreign Ministry condemned the rocket attacks by Hamas on Tuesday.
"The president's support for Israel's security, for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people is fundamental and will never waiver," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
"We condemn ongoing rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem."
