RAMALLAH: Friday prayer took place at Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem amid strict Israeli security measures and police obstacles that limited the number of worshippers able to reach the mosque.
And as tensions remained high and violence continued, two Israeli women were shot dead when their car was attacked in the occupied West Bank.
The Islamic Awqaf Department in Jerusalem reported that 130,000 worshippers offered prayers at Al-Aqsa on the third Friday of Ramadan, half as many compared with last year. Israeli forces closed the main access point to the mosque and deployed more than 2,300 soldiers at the gates of Al-Aqsa and the Old City, preventing men below the age of 55 from entering Jerusalem and reaching the mosque.
After Friday prayer, a demonstration took place during which a banner that read “Do not test our patience; Al-Aqsa is a red line” was displayed.
Clashes began at dawn when Israeli police assaulted dozens of worshippers who tried to enter the mosque through the Bab Hatta Gate for Fajr prayer. They also attacked stall owners and vendors in the area.
Sheikh Talib Al-Silwadi, one of the most prominent clerics in Ramallah, who has called on Palestinians to pray at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan, told Arab News that the mosque holds great religious significance for Muslims as it is considered the gateway to heaven.
“Considering the Israeli challenges, we must defend it with all power,” he said. “The least we can do for Al-Aqsa, which faces the danger of Judaization, is to pray in it during Ramadan.”
Earlier, around midnight, Israeli forces arrested a number of young men from Al-Thawri neighborhood of Silwan after a settler shot at them in the nearby town of Al-Tur. Officers also stormed Al-Makassed Hospital in Al-Tur, saying they were searching for injured people.
Meanwhile, two Israeli women, who according to local media reports were sisters, were killed and their mother seriously wounded when their car came under fire near the Jewish settlement of Hamra in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, praised the shooting but did not claim responsibility for it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered a security assessment of the situation. Following the attack, the Israeli army put the city of Jericho and the Jordan Valley under lockdown, set up military checkpoints, and launched a comprehensive search of Palestinian vehicles. Other forces were observed conducting search operations in the mountains and valleys. Israeli army forces also stepped up security procedures at military checkpoints surrounding Nablus.
Col. Hertzi Halevi, chief of the Israel Defense Forces, described the Hamra attack as severe. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said they considered it retaliation for continual Israeli violations at Al-Aqsa, and a message to Israeli authorities that the assault on Muslim prayers at the mosque during Ramadan would not be tolerated.
The Israeli police chief, Yaakov Shabtai, urged settlers who own licensed weapons and are proficient in using them to carry them in support of the army, police and security forces in the face of Palestinian attacks.
Esmat Mansour, a Palestinian expert on Israeli affairs, told Arab News that the Hamra attack was no less dangerous in terms of its implications than missiles fired toward Israel from Lebanon and Gaza.
“It could complicate the security scene more and cause a shift in the security situation in the West Bank,” he said.
Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles in Taqu, southeast of Bethlehem, with stones, damaging several. They did the same near the northern entrance to Ramallah. Under the protection of large numbers of Israeli army forces, settlers also attacked Palestinian properties in Khirbet Humsa Al-Tahta in the northern Jordan Valley.
At dawn on Friday, extremist settlers from “price tag” terrorist gangs set fire to vehicles belonging to residents of the Arab city of Kafr Qassem in Israel, vandalized property with racist, anti-Arab graffiti and caused other damage. These gangs are responsible for racist attacks in many Palestinian towns. They also target holy places, mosques, churches, and Islamic and Christian cemeteries.
Israeli restrictions at Al-Aqsa Mosque cut number of worshipers at Friday prayers in half
https://arab.news/664zp
Israeli restrictions at Al-Aqsa Mosque cut number of worshipers at Friday prayers in half
- Amid heightened tensions and continuing violence in many places, two Israeli women were shot dead in their car in the occupied West Bank
- After Friday prayer, a demonstration took place during which a banner that read “Do not test our patience; Al-Aqsa is a red line” was displayed
Iran-backed Houthis claim fourth attack against US warships
- The U.S. launched a wave of strikes in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis, who said last week they were resuming attacks on Red Sea shipping to support Palestinians in Gaza
SANAA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Wednesday they launched another attack against American warships in the Red Sea, their fourth time firing on the carrier group in 72 hours.
The Houthis’ military spokesperson said the operation entailed “a number of cruise missiles and drones, targeting the aircraft carrier ‘USS Harry Truman’ and a number of enemy warships,” adding that the attack was “the fourth within 72 hours.”
After one of the deadliest days in Gaza, here’s the conflict in numbers
- The renewed Israeli offensive threatens to escalate the spiraling humanitarian crisis for Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians
JERUSALEM: Israel’s wave of predawn airstrikes across Gaza shattered two months of relative calm during a ceasefire with Hamas. Tuesday was one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the war began, with over 400 Palestinians killed and hundreds more wounded.
The first phase of the ceasefire saw Hamas release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for Israel releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The deal also called on Israel to ramp up delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. After those exchanges wrapped up, Israel cut off all aid to Gaza to pressure Hamas to extend the ceasefire.
The renewed Israeli offensive threatens to escalate the spiraling humanitarian crisis for Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians. Hamas says the pounding bombardments put the 24 remaining hostages’ lives in danger.
Here’s a look at the 17-month-old conflic t by the numbers, sourced from the Gaza Health Ministry, the Israeli military and government, and the United Nations.
Current situation inside Gaza
Palestinians killed Tuesday — at least 404
Women and children killed Tuesday — 263
Senior Hamas officials killed Tuesday — 6
Aid trucks Israel let into Gaza since March 2 — zero
Overall war statistics
Palestinians killed — at least 48,981
(The Hamas-linked Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says more than half of them were women and children.)
Palestinians wounded — at least 112,603
Average number of aid trucks entering Gaza each day in December — 93 (UN), 163 (Israel)
Aid trucks entering Gaza each day between the start of the ceasefire and March 2 — 600
People killed in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — 1,200
Israeli soldiers killed in Israel’s subsequent ground operation in Gaza — 407
Palestinians displaced at war’s peak — 1.9 million, or roughly 90 percent of the population
Hostages/Prisoners
Living hostages held by Hamas — 24
Non-Israelis — 1 Thai and 1 Nepalese (alive), 2 Thais and 1 Tanzanian (dead)
Living Israeli hostages — 22, including 4 soldiers
Bodies of hostages held by Hamas — 35, including 9 soldiers
Hostages released during recent ceasefire — 33
Hostages taken on Oct. 7, 2023 — 251
Palestinian prisoners released during recent ceasefire — more than 1,700
Why did Netanyahu end the Gaza ceasefire?
- Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas was claiming flexibility in public while making “entirely impractical” demands
- The agreement reached in January, under pressure from the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump one, called for a phased ceasefire aimed at freeing all the hostages abducted in Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack and ending the war it caused
JERUSALEM: The wave of Israeli strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday was the culmination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to get out of the ceasefire with Hamas that he agreed to in January.
Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has faced dueling, possibly incompatible pressures: Families of the hostages want him to cut a deal with Hamas to free them, while his far-right coalition partners want to continue the war with the aim of annihilating the militant group.
On Tuesday, he appeared to cast his lot with the latter — and US President Donald Trump’s administration has backed Netanyahu’s decision to unilaterally walk away from the ceasefire it took credit for brokering.
Both Israel and the United States blame the renewed hostilities on Hamas’ refusal to release more hostages before negotiations on ending the war proceed — which was not part of the ceasefire agreement. Israel has accused Hamas of preparing for new attacks, without providing evidence. The militant group has denied those allegations.
Hamas — which has yet to respond militarily to the Israeli strikes — has spent weeks calling for serious talks on the ceasefire agreement’s second phase, which calls for the release of the remaining living hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.
Those talks were supposed to begin in early February. Now they may never happen.
What did the ceasefire agreement say?
The agreement reached in January, under pressure from the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump one, called for a phased ceasefire aimed at freeing all the hostages abducted in Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack and ending the war it caused.
Under the first phase, which ran from Jan. 19 to March 1, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in return for nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners, including senior militants serving life sentences for deadly attacks. Israeli forces pulled back to a buffer zone, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians returned to what remained of their homes, and there was a surge of humanitarian aid.
Each side accused the other of violations, and Israeli strikes killed dozens of Palestinians the military accused of engaging in militant activities or entering no-go zones. But the truce held.
Still, the second phase was always seen as far more difficult.
Through months of negotiations, Netanyahu had repeatedly cast doubt on it, insisting Israel was committed to returning all the hostages and destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities — two war goals that many believe are irreconcilable.
In a TV interview last June, Netanyahu cast doubt on the possibility of a lasting ceasefire before Hamas is destroyed. “We are committed to continuing the war after a pause, in order to complete the goal of eliminating Hamas. I’m not willing to give up on that,” he said.
On Jan. 18, the eve of the ceasefire, he said “we reserve the right to return to war if necessary with the backing of the United States.”
Why did Netanyahu back out of the ceasefire?
Agreeing to a permanent ceasefire would almost certainly plunge Netanyahu into a political crisis that could end his nearly uninterrupted 15-year rule.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to leave the coalition if Netanyahu progressed to Phase 2 instead of restarting the offensive. Opposition parties have promised to support him in any agreement that brings back hostages, but his coalition would still be severely weakened, making early elections likely.
By resuming the fighting, Netanyahu ensured Smotrich’s continued support. After the strikes, the Israeli leader regained another far-right partner, Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose party had bolted in January over the ceasefire but returned to the coalition Tuesday.
Beyond the political jockeying, Netanyahu’s stated goal of annihilating Hamas would have almost certainly eluded him had he stuck with the ceasefire agreement.
Hamas survived 15 months of Israeli bombardment and ground operations that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and destroyed much of Gaza. When the truce took hold, the militant group immediately reasserted its rule.
There’s no agreement on who should govern Gaza after the war, and even if the Western-backed Palestinian Authority were granted nominal control, Hamas would have strong influence on the ground and could rebuild its military capabilities.
For many Israelis, especially Netanyahu’s hawkish base and far-right allies, that would look like defeat. It would add to the criticism he already faces over security failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.
How did Netanyahu end the truce?
After the first phase ended, Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to what he described as a new US proposal in which Hamas would release half the remaining hostages in return for a seven-week extension of the truce and a vague promise to launch negotiations over a lasting ceasefire.
Hamas refused, pointing out that the new proposal was different from the one they had agreed to in January and again called for the immediate launch of talks on Phase 2.
It even offered to return an America-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages to get the talks back on track, an offer dismissed as “psychological warfare” by Israel. Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas was claiming flexibility in public while making “entirely impractical” demands.
In an attempt to impose the new arrangement on Hamas, Israel halted the import of all food, fuel and other humanitarian aid to Gaza. It later cut off electricity, affecting a vital desalination plant. Israel also said it would not withdraw from a strategic corridor on Gaza’s border with Egypt, as stipulated in the agreement.
In recent days, Israel stepped up strikes across Gaza, targeting people it said were planting explosives or engaging in other militant activities. On Tuesday, at around 2 a.m., it launched one of the deadliest waves of strikes since the start of the war.
What has Trump said about the ceasefire?
Trump took credit for brokering the ceasefire in January, but since then has appeared to sour on it. He has warned that “all hell” will break loose if Hamas does not immediately release the hostages, while saying that’s a decision for Israel to make.
Trump has also proposed that Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians be permanently relocated so the US can take ownership of Gaza and develop it as a tourist destination. Netanyahu has embraced the plan, which has been universally condemned by Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights experts, who say it would violate international law.
The White House said it was consulted ahead of Tuesday’s strikes and supported Israel’s decision.
At least 10 US strikes target areas in Yemen
CAIRO: At least 10 US strikes targeted areas in Yemen, including Sanaa, the capital, and Hodeidah, Yemen’s Houthi media reported early on Wednesday.
The US launched a wave of strikes in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis, who said last week they were resuming attacks on Red Sea shipping to support Palestinians in Gaza.
West Bank livestock theft symbol of tensions and settler ‘impunity’
- Throughout the Gaza war, violence in the West Bank — a separate Palestinian territory — has soared, as have calls to annex it, most notably from Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich
JERICHO, Palestinian Territories: A community of Palestinian Bedouins has decried a major theft of their livestock in the occupied West Bank, where the UN says violence from Israeli settlers is taking place in a climate of impunity.
On March 7, dozens of Israeli settlers, some of them armed, attacked Palestinian residents in Ras Ein al Auja while under the protection of Israeli forces, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Resident Haitham Suleiman Zayed described how around 40 vehicles arrived in the pastoral area in the Jordan Valley, accompanied by “army forces and armored Israeli vehicles.” More than 1,500 livestock were stolen, he said.
“We tried to confront them by throwing stones at them to make them move away from this enclosure, but we could not do that,” Zayed, 25, told AFP, adding that Israeli forces had intervened to protect the thieves, whom he referred to as settlers.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military referred to a police statement issued the day after the incident.
The statement said police had intervened after receiving a report regarding the theft of 50 sheep from Zohar’s farm — a settler outpost run by Zohar Sabah, an Israeli targeted in November by United States sanctions against settlers involved in acts of violence.
The sanctions introduced by the administration of former president Joe Biden were canceled by President Donald Trump on his return to power.
“Police and (Israeli) forces began searching for the flock and arrived at a Bedouin encampment near the Palestinian village of Auja, where they located the (settler’s) stolen flock,” the Israeli police statement said.
“The Palestinian suspect was arrested and taken for interrogation, where he admitted to the act,” it added.
OCHA said that according to eyewitnesses, “settlers physically assaulted and injured a Palestinian man, stole approximately 1,400 livestock, killed 12 goats, and damaged at least three houses and several solar panels.”
The Palestinian man injured during the confrontation was “restrained by Israeli police while settlers beat him,” the UN office added.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is home to nearly three million Palestinians and around 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law.
“The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers,” he added.
His comments came as his office released a new report on the situation in the West Bank between October 2023 and last November.
“The line between settler and state violence (has) blurred to a vanishing point, further enabling an increase in violence and impunity,” the report said.
OCHA said that Israeli settlers in February bulldozed an area of Ras Ein al Auja to build a road connecting two settlement outposts.
“From Masafer Yatta in the south to the northern Jordan Valley in the north, there is not a single square meter safe from settler attacks,” said Zayed.
“The main goal is to displace people,” he added.
Throughout the Gaza war, violence in the West Bank — a separate Palestinian territory — has soared, as have calls to annex it, most notably from Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Since early last year, the territory has seen a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli targets, as well as violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 911 Palestinians, including many militants, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Palestinian attacks and clashes during military raids have killed at least 32 Israelis over the same period, according to official figures.
