Palestinians Fire Rockets As Israel Continues Crackdown
Al Jazeera reported the development in early Tuesday, citing the Israeli military. The military claimed it had intercepted and destroyed dozens of the rockets.
Most of the projectiles were fired at the illegal Israeli settlements that lie close to the Gaza Strip’s border with the occupied territories.
The rest targeted similar settlements in the farther cities of Ashkelon and Sderot and even locations as far as inside the holy occupied city of Jerusalem al-Quds in the Tel Aviv-occupied West Bank.
According to Israeli army radio, the rocket barrage has prompted the regime to open up rocket shelters throughout the occupied territories.
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement’s armed wing, began the rocket strikes on Monday after the regime failed to meet its deadline to stop its grave violations against Palestinians in al-Quds and elsewhere across the West Bank.
Since the beginning of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, the Israeli regime has been carrying out repeated assaults on Palestinian worshippers and protesters on al-Aqsa Mosque’s compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, that is located in al-Quds’ Old City.
Also during the month, the forces attacked Palestinian homes in East al-Quds’ Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The aggressors were trying to prompt the Palestinians to abandon their residences there. The regime had earlier issued them warnings that they had to evacuate their homes.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been injured during the Israeli military’s assaults.
UNICEF reported earlier that the casualties included 29 children. The body also offered a chilling account of how the regime would prevent treatment of the injured youngsters after committing violence against them.
Also on Monday, the Israeli air force assaulted areas in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, martyring as many as 21 Palestinians and wounding 70 others.
An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that Israeli gunboats had also attacked Gaza’s northern shoreline.
Islamic Jihad, Hamas’ fellow resistance movements, meanwhile, warned Tel Aviv against further aggression, saying all Palestinian resistance groups coordinate their actions with what happens in al-Quds.
The international community has unequivocally lambasted Tel Aviv for the atrocities.
Ayman Safadi, foreign minister of Jordan, which is the custodian of holy Muslim and Christian sites in al-Quds, told the Qatar-based network that “Israel and the region will not enjoy security unless the Palestinians enjoy it as well.”
He said Amman had contacted various parties, including the US -- Israel's biggest ally -- to help stop the regime from evicting Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah.
Amnesty: Israeli violence injured 840 Palestinians
Earlier, Amnesty International urged the Israeli regime to end its brutal repression of Palestinians protesting forced displacement in Sheikh Jarrah.
“Israeli security forces have used repeated, unwarranted, and excessive force against Palestinian protesters” in East al-Quds, the UK-based rights body reported. A total of 840 Palestinians were injured throughout four days of violence by the regime, it said.
“Evidence gathered by Amnesty International reveals a chilling pattern of Israeli forces’ using abusive and wanton force against largely peaceful Palestinian protesters in recent days,” said Saleh Higazi, the body’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
The organization cited a Palestinian journalist at al-Aqsa Mosque as saying he had “never been this scared” in his life, despite his 10-year track record of covering events in al-Quds.
Amnesty also quoted Sheikh Jarrah resident Nabil el-Kurd as saying, “It is not just an eviction, but a war crime. Remember that. I do not know why the entire world is watching what is happening and letting Israel get away with it.”
Source: Press TV
