Live: Israel and Hamas claim victory as fragile ceasefire holds

Israeli police officers have targeted Palestinian protesters in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah amid a grassroots-organised national strike by Palestinians.

Large numbers of heavily armed police were deployed to occupied East Jerusalem to suppress Palestinian anger over the ongoing bombing of Gaza, Israeli police attacks on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the appropriation of Palestinian property in Sheikh Jarrah by Israeli settlers.

Israeli forces released skunk water from trucks to disperse the protesters, with support from armed police mounted on horseback. 

The neighbourhood has been largely closed off by Israeli forces using concrete blocks and barricades. Local residents say that lawyers, journalists and activists have not been allowed to enter the area and those attempting to are prevented from doing so at checkpoints.

At Damascus Gate, journalists and locals were harassed by Israeli police. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that 16 people had been injured as a result of Israeli police action near the Damascus Gate, with three requiring hospitalisation.

The injuries were largely a result of rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas used by Israeli forces.

A Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces cracking down on demonstrations near the Beit El checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.

At least 16 Palestinian demonstrators were shot at by Israeli soldiers using live ammunition and transported to hospitals.

At least two Israeli soldiers were injured in a shooting while they were positioned on a hill near the entrance of al-Bireh city in the occupied West Bank, metres away from the Beit El checkpoint.

MEE's correspondent saw at least two soldiers being transported via ambulance away from the scene.

The Israeli army sent reinforcements to the location as they continued a heavy crackdown on nearby protests marking the Palestinian nationwide dignity strike.

The Norwegian Refugee Council confirmed on Tuesday that 11 of over 60 children killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza over the last week were participating in its psycho-social programme aimed at helping them deal with trauma.

The Egyptian presidency said it would allocate $500m to the Gaza strip, following over a week of heavy Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. 

The presidency said the funds would be aimed towards rebuilding. Egyptian companies will also participate in rebuilding operations.

Gaza has suffered tens of millions of dollars' worth of damage following the heavy bombardment, which has flattened several residential towers and buildings.

The announcement came after a meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, French President Emmanuel Macron and Jordan’s King Abdullah in Paris.

Palestinians in the Israeli city of Haifa took part in the nationwide dignity strikes taking place across the occupied territories and parts of Israel.

Two foreign workers from Thailand were killed by rockets fired from the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli police confirmed on Tuesday. 

Seven others were wounded in the attack after the rockets struck a packaging plant in southern Israel. 

Israeli forces beat, pepper-sprayed and removed the head-covering of MEE correspondent Latifeh Abdellatif while she was filming the detention of a young boy in occupied East Jerusalem.

Covering the nationwide Palestinian general strike in the Old City's Damascus Gate, Abdellatif reported seeing a child being detained by Israeli forces.

His father and other Palestinians nearby tried to stop Israeli forces, which sparked a confrontation. Abdellatif then tried to film the incident but she was pushed around by Israeli officers, despite making it clear to them that she was a journalist.

"I'm a journalist, I'm a journalist," Abdellatif repeated. The officers ignored her pleas and continued to push her back, then pulled down her hijab, and struck her with a baton on her knee.

Palestinians at the scene stepped in to protect Abdellatif, scuffling with the Israeli officers. A number of them were arrested as a result.

Tuesday’s strike - remarkable for spreading across the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel - has led some to draw parallels to the 1936 general strike in British Mandate-era Palestine.

Middle East Eye took a look at this defining moment in Palestinian history before the creation of the state of Israel and the Nakba in 1948. Most notable was the 1936 strike’s broad nature, reaching both urban and rural areas, with the participation of men and women alike, and gaining support from around the region.

 You can read the explainer here.

Israel placed Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouthi in solitary confinement after penning a letter of support to Palestinian protests against Israel's settlers policies in East Jerusalem and the ongoing bombardment of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Barghouti, a Fatah leader, was last arrested in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah in 2002 and sentenced to five consecutive life sentences for his alleged role in a series of attacks during the Second Intifada.

The Palestinian Committee for Prisoners' Affairs said on Tuesday that Barghouti, 62, was moved from Hadarim prison to Ayalon prison, where he remains in solitary confinement.

He was put in an individual cell a few days ago after publishing a statement calling Palestinian to confront the Israeli occupation.

Palestinian in historic Palestine - in Jerusalem, West Bank and mixed cities of Jaffa and Lod - launched on Tuesday a general strike to show unity in front of ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Fateh Youth Movement said that this was the 24th time Barghouti has been put in solitary confinement since he was arrested in 2002.

On 15 May, Barghouti said in a letter leaked from his cell in an Israeli prison that: “We are living in a fateful stage for the future of our cause and struggle, and our great people have declared everywhere that their compass and destination have been, and will always be, the city of Jerusalem, the crown of the nation, its beating heart, and the eternal capital of the Palestinian people.”

He called for national unity and strengthening the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) role in politics and armed actions against Israel and to include Hamas and Islamic Jihad in PLO's decision-making. 

Late in April, during the early days of the Israeli crackdown on Palestinian demonstrators and international activists in Jerusalem's Damascus Gate and Shiekh Jarrah, Facebook banned Barghouti's public page other Palestinian pages of activists and journalists.

Palestinians are taking to the streets in large numbers as part of the nationwide "dignity" protests organised to condemn Israel's air strikes on Gaza and police aggression towards protestors. 

In the early afternoon, the cities of Bethlehem, Beit El, Nablus, Ramallah and Tulkarem witnessed masses of people come out to protest

According to Middle East Eye’s correspondent on the ground, Faten Elwan, many people have arrived waving Palestinian flags to show unity in their demands. 

Israeli forces had also begun to use tear gas to disperse demonstrations in the cities of Bethlehem and Beit El. 

Hundreds gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza and Jerusalem as a general strike continues across the occupied territories and towns in Israel.

MEE Correspondent Faten Elwan was live for Middle East Eye where protests had begun on Tuesday as part of the Karameh (dignity) strikes that will be marked by millions across historic Palestine.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), over 38,000 people have taken shelter in their schools in Gaza, fleeing from Israeli shelling. 

“There is nowhere to flee in Gaza. Before the relentless bombing had been unleashed the choice was between Covid and hunger, and that was bleak enough,” UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said on Twitter. 

Many people are seeking safety in the densely populated besieged strip, as many residential buildings have been flattened, after over a week of heavy Israeli bombardment. 

Since the start of the bombardment, over 200 Palestinians have been killed, including over 60 children inside the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Images and videos posted on social media showed Islama Fayyad Zahda, a 31-year-old man, lying dead outside a checkpoint after Israeli forces shot him.

Witnesses told the Wafa news agency that Israeli forces opened fire on Zahda and prevented medical teams from approaching his body where he died from his wounds.

In a statement, the Israeli army said the man was carrying an improvised gun, an explosive device and a knife, MEE's Shatha Hammad reported.

It added the man allegedly approached a gathering of soldiers near illegal settlements in the city. No soldier was hurt in the alleged attack.