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Violent exchanges between Palestinians and
Israel Defence Forces (IDF), as well as Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, were reported near
Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah by early Friday afternoon. It was not immediately clear how many people were involved, whether live fire had been used, and whether anyone had been injured or killed.
Jerusalem, often a flashpoint for violence on Fridays, the Muslim holy day, had expected an influx of worshippers for this week’s most important prayer session at the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound following six days of punishing airstrikes on
Gaza, a tiny Palestinian enclave home to 2.3 million people.
Turnout was low, however, after the Jordanian Waqf, that administers the complex’s Muslim holy sites, said that Israel had banned access to Palestinians under the age of 60, and the Beyadenu Temple Mount Movement, an extremist Jewish group, threatened to prevent Muslim worshippers from entering the area. Israeli media reported that more than 2,500 officers and volunteers were patrolling the Old City and its vicinity.
Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli border police were also reported inside the Old City’s Muslim Quarter, and in Wadi Joz, a Palestinian neighbourhood just to the north of the dense 1 sq km maze of narrow streets and alleyways.
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Violence between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces has erupted in several areas of occupied
East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
In the West Bank there were calls for marches across several big towns and cities, but in the chaos across the region, details on what under other circumstances would be described as major incidents were hard to follow. At least 11 Palestinians were shot and killed in the West Bank over the course of the day, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Khaled Mashal, the former leader of
Hamas, called for a “global day of rage” in support of Palestinians, demanding governments and people across the Middle East to protest.
“Tribes of Jordan, sons of Jordan, brothers and sisters of Jordan … This is a moment of truth and the borders are close to you, you all know your responsibility,” he said. The Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that thousands gathered in the Jordanian capital
Amman, but did not spread further after a ban on protest near the border areas with the West Bank.
More than 400,000 in Gaza were already internally displaced before Israel’s evacuation order, UN humanitarian office says
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