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Rockets fired from Gaza following second night of tensions at Al-Aqsa mosque [1]
['Paul Godfrey']
Date: 2023-04-06
Israeli police clashed with what they described as "juvenile rioters" for a second night as Palestinian authorities accused them of crossing a "red line" at Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan celebrations. Photo by Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE
April 6 (UPI) -- Tensions remained high in Israel on Thursday after an escalation of violent clashes in Jerusalem's old city between Muslim worshippers and police at the Al-Aqsa mosque saw at least seven rockets fired from Gaza, triggering warning sirens in communities near the border. Israel Police said they were met by dozens of juvenile rioters, some of them masked, who threw fireworks and stones at worshippers and officers, who they said were present to ensure Muslims' safe access for evening prayers marking Ramadan, before attempting to barricade themselves in. Advertisement
Officers managed to clear the scene and assist worshipers to leave the mosque and the area is now quiet, police said.
But Palestinian authorities said it was the police who had attacked worshippers and that a "red line" had been crossed.
Israel Defense Forces said seven surface-to-air rockets were launched from Gaza, setting off warning sirens across the south of the country, but none hit their targets.
The violence followed clashes on Tuesday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque that saw hundreds of arrests, rocket fire from Gaza and Israel responding Wednesday with airstrikes against what it said were weapon manufacturing sites and a storage site belonging to Hamas.
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All but 53 of the 450 people arrested Tuesday have since been released, according to a statement from the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs.
The Bureau of the United Nation General Assembly's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People condemned the actions of Israeli police at the mosque.
"The bureau calls for respect the freedom of all worshippers to access the religious sites in accordance with established parameters," it said.
"Israel's illegal policies and practices have continued to entrench its illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory it has occupied since 1967."
It added that Israel must be held accountable for violations in the occupied Palestinian territory and urged Israel to comply with its international legal obligations under U.N. resolutions.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also called for sanctions against Israel.
"It is no longer enough this time, as every time, to condemn Israel in the Security Council by many countries. This time, sanctions must be imposed on it as a terrorist state, as a rogue state, and as an occupying and apartheid state," the ministry said in a Twitter Post.
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[1] Url:
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2023/04/06/Jerusalem-Old-City-Police-Palestinian-Clashes-Continue/7031680775315/
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