The escalation of tension between Palestine and Israel continues to grow as hundreds of Palestinians locked themselves up this Saturday in the Al Aqsa Mosque, in the Esplanade of Mosques in Jerusalem, and refuse to leave the place in full Ramadan. In addition, the Israeli forces have Palestinian protester shot dead in Azzun.

Police entered the area shortly after the Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the mosque as the Jordanian Foreign Ministry (formally in charge of Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites) has warned of “catastrophic consequences” if officers break into the area. Al Aqsa to evict the Palestinians. Haman has warned that an eviction would cause “more tension and violence and everyone would pay the price.”

For his part, a spokesman for Hamas, Mohamed Hamadé, has warned that “the aggression of the occupation will only have the resistance as a response and the resistance is ready to respond to the occupation crimes proportional to the scope of the crime”.

The Esplanade of the Mosques is the religious heart of East Jerusalem and rests on one of its sides on the Wailing Wall, the last vestige of the Jewish Temple of Solomon, for which reason Muslims fear that Israel seeks to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque ( third holiest site in Islam) to build a Jewish Third Temple in Jerusalem.

These incidents take place within the framework of a significant rise in tension in the area, triggered by thenconfrontations on Wednesday between Israeli Police and Palestinian worshipers at the holy Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied east Jerusalem.

These clashes were followed by a heavy exchange of fire between Israel and Palestinian militias in both the Gaza Strip and the southern lebanon.

The tension spread this Friday to the West Bank, where two sisters aged 15 and 20 died in a shooting attack in which his mother was seriously injured.

Shortly after, a group of tourists was run over on a Tel Aviv seafront by an Arab citizen of Israel, who was killed. The incident resulted in the death of a 36-year-old Italian man and seven other tourists were injured, none seriously.

Following these episodes, a reinforcement of army troops both in the West Bank and in central Israel.

This has been the deadliest start to the year in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 2000. In the just over three months since the start of 2023, 18 people have been killed in attacks by Palestinians or Israeli-Arabs, while 94 Palestinians have died in violent incidents of various kinds with Israelis.

Also, the The Israeli army attacked positions in southern Syria this morning with artillery and by air after six rockets were launched from that area in two batches, three of which crossed into Israeli territory.

Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities have approved six new plans to expand their settlements in the West Bankincluding the construction of two new neighborhoods.

Source: Eitb

Ricardo

Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.