After a day of attacks between the Israeli army and the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Lebanon and when all eyes were on the third Friday of Ramadan prayers in the Al Aqsa Mosque, the West Bank reappeared in the spiral of violence. Several Palestinians opened fire on an Israeli car, killing two young sisters. Her mother was critically injured while her father, who was in another car, witnessed the attack.
When at mid-morning the mediation of Egypt, the UN and the US seemed to achieve a tense calm on the border of Israel with Lebanon and Gaza, first aid teams received the call of an accident at the West Bank crossing of Tamra. Upon arrival, they saw the bullet wounds in the vehicle and understood what the army confirmed minutes later, beginning a search and capture operation for the suspects: “This is a terrorist attack.” The attackers fired from their car at the other forcing him to swerve, approached and shot at the Israeli women at close range before fleeing.
The situation on the three fronts depends mainly on what happens in the next few days in Jerusalem in the middle of Ramadan, as warned by the Palestinians who see Al Aqsa from a religious and national identity perspective, while Israel also points to Iran as the promoter and beneficiary of the attacks. .
The head of the Internal Security Service, Ronen Bar, reveals that so far this year they have aborted 200 significant attacks, including 14 at the last moment. The number of alerts of Palestinian attacks and the numerous calls on social networks to carry out shootings, runs over and stabbing Israelis “in defense of Al Aqsa”, multiplied as of early Wednesday morning as a result of disturbances between Israeli policemen and Palestinians in the Al Aqsa Mosque.
The Police affirm that “Palestinian rioters, many of them hooded, barricaded themselves and missed the holy compound with sticks, blocks of stones and fireworks” with the aim of launching them the next day against visitors to the Temple Mount (for Jews). o Noble Sanctuary (for Muslims) at the beginning of the Jewish Passover. The Palestinian National Authority and Palestinian factions, for their part, condemned “the criminal assault against the mosque and its worshippers.” The images of the violent eviction, including the use of batons by some agents, in the third holiest place for Islam provoked Palestinian anger translated into dozens of projectiles against Israel. First from Gaza against the south and later from Lebanon against the north in the biggest attack since the 2006 war with Hezbollah.
Israel intercepted most of the 34 projectiles fired by Palestinian factions in southern Lebanon. At night, the retaliation included the bombing of a dozen Hamas targets in Gaza and southern Lebanon (near the Rashidiye Palestinian refugee camp) without hitting Hezbollah, master and lord in that area, to avoid further climbing. The Palestinian group responded with more than 40 shells against southern Israel. In both cases, without victims or desire to escalate.
The head of the UN maintenance and observation force in southern Lebanon, Spanish Major General Aroldo Lázaro, met with the officials from the two countries. “The two parties assured that they do not want a war,” says UNIFIL. In the afternoon, he intercepted a minidrone sent from Lebanon.
After applauding Friday’s attack and condemning the Israeli attacks in Gaza and Lebanon, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem stated that “the issue of Al Aqsa will continue to blow up the situation because our people and the resistance will not overlook the crimes of Israel no response. We will continue to exercise the right to protect Al Aqsa and be a shield and sword for Jerusalem.”
Some 70,000 Palestinians concluded prayers at the mosque without any special incident beyond the chants of several dozen pro-Hamas youth and the latest attack. Netanyahu assured that Israel “maintains freedom of worship and the status quo on the Temple Mount but will not allow the action of violent radicals” while warning: “Let the enemies not be confused. No internal discussion (crisis around the judicial reform proposal already suspended) will prevent us from hitting them if necessary”.
While the opposition accuses him of the internal crisis including the dismissal (frozen for the moment) of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the right wing including several ultranationalist ministers criticize the “weak response to terrorism”.
In Israel, they follow with concern the close alliance of Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups under the leadership of Iran which, in the words of the national security adviser, Tsaji Hanegbi, “trying to heat up all fronts while accelerating its nuclear plan”.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
