As attacks and deaths increase, in Gaza Hamas calls for a "third intifada"
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) – The violence is escalating between Israelis and Palestinians, spreading from Jerusalem and the West Bank to Gaza. In a sermon at a mosque in Gaza City, Hamas' Gaza chief Ismail Haniyeh said, "we are calling for the strengthening and increasing of the intifada."
A Palestinian, 22-year-old Ahmed Qali, who was seriously wounded during clashes with Israeli border police in East Jerusalem, died of wounds he sustained during clashes in Shuafat refugee camp.
Two Israelis in their 60s were wounded in stabbing attacks in Jerusalem. Their attacker was killed.
Seven Palestinians were killed and over 60 were wounded during clashes with Israeli forces near the Gaza border fence at Khan Younes Friday afternoon.
Among those killed was a 15-year-old Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Raqab. Yesterday, another Palestinian was killed and 400 injured in clashes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Two Israelis were lightly wounded in two attacks in Jerusalem and near the settlement of Kiryat Arba in the West Bank.
Friday's stabbings included one by a 17-year-old Jew in the southern Israeli city of Dimona who lightly or moderately wounded three Palestinians and a Bedouin, calling them “terrorists”.
A police officer was attacked in Hebron whilst a Jewish 16-year-old was stabbed in Jerusalem. An Arab Israeli woman was shot and killed when she tried to stab a security guard at a bus station in the northern Israeli town of Afula.
Clashes occurred also yesterday in Nazareth, Kfar Kanna, Sakhnin, and Arraba, all Arab towns in the Galilee.
A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open field in Israel not far from the border. No damage or injuries reported.
Violence between Israelis and Palestinians escalated after clashes erupted on the Temple Mount and in the Old City of Jerusalem, following visits by Jewish settlers and ultranationalists who want to pray at the site reserved for Muslims.
As violence spreads among Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians, political leaders on both sides seem powerless.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who continues to support the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and branded recent stabbings as terrorism, said he "strongly condemned the harming of innocent Arabs" and vowed to bring to justice anyone who breaks the law.
Saeb Erakat, who is close to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, accused Netanyahu and his government of "committing a new massacre of Palestinians" in Gaza.
According to Israeli observers, although violence is increasing at present, it is still not comparable to the intifadas of 1987 and 2000.
The two conflicts cost the lives of some 5,000 Palestinians and around 1,100 Israelis.
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