Curfew ordered in Lod for second day

Israeli authorities on Thursday ordered a night curfew in Lod for the second day in a row, after the city became a flashpoint of violence, with Israeli ultra-nationalists attacking Palestinian citizens of Israel and the latter setting fire to Jewish-Israeli owned businesses.

Israeli police are preventing non-residents from entering the city from 5pm, with a curfew enforced from 8pm until 3am, a police spokesperson said, adding that police units have been deployed in the area.

Confrontations in Lod, known as Lydd to Palestinians, erupted on Wednesday between Palestinian residents of Israel and Jewish-Israelis, with cars and buildings burned and at least one synagogue torched. A state of emergency has been declared in the city. 

“Alertness is high this evening. Police forces are spread out through the city, and there are expectations that the night will be as tense as it has been for the past couple of days,” one Palestinian told MEE correspondent Fadi Abu Kishk.

Abu Kishk said that on Wednesday night, settlers attacked Palestinian homes and cars in Lod and in a remote area outside the city, where they also beat up an elderly Palestinian man.