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
Jordan’s king says Israel’s resumption of Gaza attacks a ‘dangerous step’
“Israel’s resumption of attacks on Gaza is an extremely dangerous step that adds further devastation to an already dire humanitarian situation,” he said, standing next to French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
Gaza health ministry says one dead among foreign UN staff injured in Israeli strike
GAZA: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that a foreign UN worker was killed and five others seriously injured Wednesday by an Israeli strike on their headquarters.
A statement from the health ministry said there was “one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions... due to the bombing of their headquarters by the occupation in the central governorate a short while ago,” adding they had been taken to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
AFP has not been able to confirm the information with the UN.
Israel's army, however, denied striking the UN building in Gaza.
“Contrary to reports, the IDF (army) did not strike a UN compound in Deir el-Balah,” the army said in a statement, while an army spokesperson told AFP: “I confirm there was no IDF operational activity there and that the IDF didn't strike the UN compound.”
Hamas says open to talks as Israel keeps up Gaza strikes
- Hamas is open to talks on getting the ceasefire back on track but will not renegotiate the agreement that took effect on January 19
- Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase expired in early March
GAZA CITY: Hamas said it remained open to negotiations while calling for pressure on Israel Wednesday to implement a Gaza truce after its deadliest bombing since the fragile ceasefire began in January.
Israel carried out fresh air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, killing 13 people according to the territory’s civil defense agency, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday’s raids were “only the beginning.”
The United Nations and countries around the world condemned the high civilian death toll in the renewed strikes, which have killed more than 400 people, according to Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Hamas is open to talks on getting the ceasefire back on track but will not renegotiate the agreement that took effect on January 19, an official from the militant group said.
“Hamas has not closed the door on negotiations but we insist there is no need for new agreements,” Taher Al-Nunu told AFP.
“We have no conditions, but we demand that the occupation be compelled to immediately halt its aggression and war of extermination, and begin the second phase of negotiations.”
Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase expired in early March, with Israel and Hamas disagreeing on whether to move to a new phase intended to bring the war to an end.
Instead, Israel and the United States have sought to change the terms of the deal by extending stage one.
That would delay the start of phase two, which was meant to establish a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and was swiftly rejected by Hamas, which demanded full implementation of the original deal.
“There is no need for new agreements in light of the existing agreement signed by all parties,” Nunu said.
Israel and the United States have portrayed Hamas’s rejection of an extended stage one as a refusal to release more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu’s office said he ordered the renewed strikes on Gaza after “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages.”
In a televised address late Tuesday, the premier said: “From now on, negotiations will take place only under fire... Military pressure is essential for the release of additional hostages.
“Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you — and them — this is only the beginning.”
The White House said Israel consulted US President Donald Trump’s administration before launching the strikes, while Israel said the return to fighting was “fully coordinated” with Washington.
The intense Israeli bombardment sent a stream of new casualties to the few hospitals still functioning in Gaza and triggered fears of a return to full-blown war after two months of relative calm.
The roads were once again filled with Palestinian civilians on the move as families responded to evacuation warnings from the Israeli army.
“Today I felt that Gaza is a real hell,” said Jihan Nahhal, a 43-year-old from Gaza City, adding some of her relatives were wounded or killed in the strikes.
“Suddenly there were huge explosions, as if it were the first day of the war.”
The Gaza health ministry said the bodies of 413 people had been received by hospitals, adding people were still under the rubble.
A spokeswoman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF said medical facilities that “have already been decimated” by the war were now “overwhelmed.”
Governments in the Middle East, Europe and beyond called for the renewed hostilities to end.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Israel’s raids on Gaza “are shattering the tangible hopes of so many Israelis and Palestinians of an end to suffering on all sides.”
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she told her Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar that the new strikes on Gaza were “unacceptable.”
Both Egypt and Qatar, which brokered the Gaza ceasefire alongside the United States, condemned Israel’s resort to military action.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said the strikes were part of “deliberate efforts to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and force the Palestinians into displacement.”
Trump has floated a proposal to move Palestinians out of Gaza, an idea rejected by Palestinians and governments in the region and beyond, but embraced by some Israeli politicians.
Israel’s resumption of military operations in Gaza, after it already halted all humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza this month, drew an immediate political dividend for Netanyahu.
The far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which quit his ruling coalition in January in protest at the Gaza ceasefire, rejoined its ranks with its firebrand leader Itamar Ben Gvir again becoming national security minister.
The war began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,577 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry.
Of the 251 hostages seized during the attack, 58 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Trump meets UAE national security adviser, discusses strategic partnership prospects
- Sheikh Tahnoon is on an official visit to the US where he will meet with senior US administration officials and business leaders
DUBAI: UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan met with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday in the presence of senior US officials.
“Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed and the US President discussed opportunities to strengthen the long-term strategic partnership between the UAE and the US and explored ways to enhance it to serve their shared interests,” the state run WAM news agency reported.
Sheikh Tahnoon is on an official visit to the US where he will meet with senior US administration officials and business leaders.
During his meeting with Trump, Tahnoon affirmed the UAE’s commitment to strengthening economic ties with the US by expanding partnerships.
Sheikh Tahnoon also met with US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and discussed ways to advance bilateral relations and the latest developments on matters of mutual interest.
Iraq makes rare seizure of ship suspected of fuel smuggling in Gulf
BAGHDAD: Iraqi naval forces have seized an unidentified ship in Iraqi territorial waters in the Gulf suspected of smuggling fuel, the naval forces said in a statement.
Fuel smuggling is common in Gulf waters, where heavily subsidised fuel from some countries is sold on the black market to buyers across the region, though it is relatively rare for Iraqi authorities to seize ships.
A naval patrol boat intercepted the ship on Tuesday after receiving intelligence about suspected illegal activity, according to the navy statement issued late on Tuesday.
The navy said an Iranian captain, eight Indian nationals, and two Iraqi crew members were onboard the ship.
The navy released a picture of the ship, in which no name was visible. It gave no further details about the vessel.
The ship was towed to Umm Qasr naval base for further investigation, and the crew has been handed over to the local police, the navy said.
