VIDEO: Three children among 9 Palestinians dead in Israel’s army air strikes on Gaza
- 10 May 2021
Israel's army launched air strikes on Gaza Monday amid spiralling violence sparked by unrest at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque compound. Adding to the sense of chaos, a huge fire engulfed trees in the compound that houses the mosque, Islam's third holiest site.
At least nine people were killed in Gaza — among them a senior Hamas commander — local authorities said. The Gaza health ministry said nine Palestinians, including three children, were killed "in a series of strikes in northern Gaza."
Tensions in Jerusalem have flared since Israeli riot police clashed with Palestinian worshippers on the last Friday of the Holy Month of Ramadan in the city's worst disturbances since 2017.
Nightly unrest since then at the Al Aqsa compound has left hundreds of Palestinians wounded, drawn calls for de-escalation from the international community and sharp rebukes from across the Muslim world.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, on Monday warned Israel to withdraw all its forces from the mosque compound and the east Jerusalem district of Sheikh Jarrah, where looming evictions of Palestinian families have fuelled angry protests.
"There are hundreds of people injured from the clashes" and about 50 of them were hospitalised, the Red Crescent said in a brief statement to journalists.
Palestinians and Israeli police firing stun grenades clashed outside Al Aqsa Mosque on Monday, in on-going violence in Jerusalem that has raised international concern.
In Monday's Al Aqsa clashes, as during the previous nights since Friday, Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli officers in riot gear who fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.
Tensions in the city were particularly high as Israel was marking "Jerusalem Day," its annual celebration of the capture of East Jerusalem, and the walled Old City that is home to Muslim, Jewish and Christian holy places, in a 1967 war.
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Loud booms and angry screams echoed from the ancient stone walls of the compound, where Palestinians built makeshift barricades and the ground was littered with rocks, stun grenade fragments and other debris.
'Escalating aggression'
The Palestinian Red Crescent put the toll from Monday's clashes at 331 injured, including more than 200 who were hospitalised, five of them in critical condition.
Israeli security forces detain a Palestinian protester amid clashes at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem on Monday. AFP
The violence since Friday has been fuelled by a long-running bid by Jewish settlers to evict several Palestinian families from their nearby Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
An Israeli police officer protects a Jewish driver after the accident near Jerusalem's Old City, on Monday. AP
Live video showed Palestinians hurling rocks at police in riot gear on al-Aqsa's stone-strewn plaza and police firing stun grenades. The skirmishes appeared to be less fierce than clashes late last week.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Police said they had deployed thousands of officers in Jerusalem streets and on rooftops to keep the peace.
Planned plunder
Tensions have also been fuelled by the planned plunder of several Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.
Palestinian protesters run from Israeli security forces in Jerusalem's Old City on Monday. AFP
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed "serious concerns" about the situation in Jerusalem, including the potential evictions, in a call with his Israeli counterpart on Sunday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed on Sunday his concern over the situation.
Israeli security forces deploy amid clashes with Palestinians at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque compound. AFP
A Supreme Court hearing on a Palestinian appeal in the case originally set for Monday was pushed back by the justice ministry due to the tensions.
Despite mounting international condemnation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced support for the Israeli police's "just struggle," praising the "steadfastness that the Israeli police and our security forces are currently displaying."
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called Israel's "barbaric aggression."