JERUSALEM, April 18 – Israel shot down a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday, the Israeli army mentioned, the primary such assault in months as tensions over a flashpoint Jerusalem shrine drew offended pro-Palestinian rhetoric from Jordan and U.S. mediation efforts.
No Gaza faction claimed accountability for the launch, which adopted warnings by the dominant Hamas Islamists of reprisals for Israeli conduct round Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque compound.
Inside hours, Israeli airstrikes hit camps utilized by Hamas and one other Gaza faction, Palestinian sources mentioned. The army mentioned one goal was an arms manufacturing web site. Nobody was damage.
Since Friday, Al Aqsa – additionally revered by Jews as a vestige of two historical temples – has seen confrontations between Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli riot police recalling violence that helped fan a Gaza warfare one yr in the past.
Palestinians accuse Israel of encroaching at Al Aqsa through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Israel says Palestinian protesters search to disrupt Muslim prayer for political ends and to forestall visits by Jews, who at the moment are celebrating Passover.
The tensions complicate Israel’s safety ties with Jordan, which is custodian of Al Aqsa and has a Palestinian majority.
Jordan’s King Abdullah informed U.N. Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres that Israel’s Al Aqsa coverage “significantly undermines” possibilities of it making peace with the Palestinians, Amman mentioned. Jordan additionally summoned Israel’s appearing ambassador for a reprimand.
Escalating the rhetoric, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh informed parliament: “I need to laud … these throwing their stones in any respect of these Zionists who desecrate Al Aqsa mosque with the safety of the Israeli occupation authorities.”
A number of passengers had been injured when Israeli buses they had been touring on to Jerusalem’s Outdated Metropolis had been stoned by Palestinians on Sunday, police mentioned, including that Al Aqsa protesters have been stockpiling rocks for assaults on Jewish guests and police.
At the very least 152 Palestinians and eight police had been injured round Al Aqsa throughout Friday’s confrontations, medics mentioned.
“I view with gravity the statements blaming Israel for the violence that we're being subjected to. Some are encouraging stone-throwing,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett mentioned in video assertion issued after al-Khasawneh’s televised remarks.
“This serves as a prize for the inciters, chiefmost Hamas, who're attempting to ignite violence right here in Jerusalem,” he mentioned.
In Washington, the State Division mentioned U.S. officers engaged in telephone calls with Israelis, Palestinians and Arab representatives over the weekend in an effort to forestall an escalation of the Jerusalem tensions.
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