Reactions have poured in from around the world after days of unrest in Jerusalem, where hundreds were wounded and dozens arrested on Monday after Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Palestinians had over the past couple of weeks staged a series of sit-ins in the area and parts of occupied East Jerusalem to denounce Israel’s attempt to forcefully expel residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood to make way for Jewish settlements.
Responding to the crackdown, Hamas, the group that controls the Gaza Strip, issued an ultimatum to Israel, saying it had until 6pm (15:00 GMT) to withdraw its forces from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site which is also revered by Jews.
Shortly after the deadline expired, Hamas fired several rockets into Israel. Israel responded by launching air raids at the besieged territory, killing 20 people, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
Here is how countries and the international community have so far reacted to the events:
Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to mobilise the world to stop Israeli “terror”, in phone calls to Palestinian leaders.
In the calls to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Erdogan denounced Israel’s actions and extended support.
The Turkish leader pledged to “do everything in his power to mobilise the world, starting with the Islamic world, to stop Israel’s terror and occupation”, his office said.
Iran
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif took to Twitter to blame Israel for stealing “people’s land & homes” and creating “an Apartheid regime”.
He also accused Israel of refusing to vaccinate citizens “under illegal occupation” and accused Israeli police of shooting “innocent worshippers” inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
On Saturday, a foreign ministry spokesman called on the United Nations to condemn the Israeli police action in the mosque compound, saying it amounted to a “war crime”.
Egypt
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement it “firmly” condemned “the new incursion of Israeli forces into the Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
Egypt’s assistant minister of foreign affairs, Nazih al-Najari, on Monday met the Israeli ambassador in Cairo, Amira Oron, to say Egypt rejected and denounced Israel’s action.
United States
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip into Israel were an “unacceptable escalation”, adding that the United States was “fully engaged” to promote calm in Jerusalem.
UN
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his deep concern over the situation in occupied East Jerusalem, as well as the possible forced expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah.
In a statement issued by his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief urged Israel to “cease demolitions and evictions, in line with its obligations under international humanitarian and international human rights law”.
“Israeli authorities must exercise maximum restraint and respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. All leaders have a responsibility to act against extremists and to speak out against all acts of violence and incitement,” he said.
Middle East Quartet
The four members of the Middle East Quartet – the US, Russia, the European Union and the UN – on Saturday expressed “deep concern” over violence in Jerusalem.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis on Sunday called for an end to the violence, saying he was “following with particular concern the events that are happening in Jerusalem”.
“I pray so that this might be a place of encounter and not violent clashes, a place of prayer and of peace,” he said.
“Violence only generates violence. Let’s stop these clashes.”
Germany
Speaking after an EU meeting in Brussels, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday the bloc had been “exerting influence for a long time” and that he had spoken to contacts in the US, Jordan and Israel in recent days.
“We can only call on all sides to deescalate this truly explosive situation. both sides can contribute to this,” he told reporters in Brussels.
United Kingdom
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Monday that the United Kingdom condemned the firing of rockets by Hamas at Jerusalem and locations within Israel.
“The ongoing violence in Jerusalem and Gaza must stop. We need an immediate de-escalation on all sides, and end to targeting of civilian populations,” Raab said on Twitter
France
Before a planned march to commemorate Israel’s capture of Jerusalem in 1967 – later scrapped – a French foreign ministry spokeswoman warned of the risk of a “large scale escalation”.
“France calls on all concerned to show the greatest restraint and refrain from any provocation to allow a return to calm as swiftly as possible,” the spokeswoman said on Monday.
A team of Tibetan mountaineering guides is being dispatched to the summit to set up the line. It will be in place before the arrival of a group of Chinese climbers who are currently on their way.
Mountaineers from the Chinese side will be prohibited from having contact with anyone from the Nepal side and will not be allowed to touch objects that have been placed at the peak.
It is not clear whether the Tibetan guides will remain in the area to enforce the restrictions.
The director of Tibet's Sports Bureau told Chinese state media that the only time that climbers from the north and south side of the mountain come in to contact is at the summit.
At present, tourists without a permit are forbidden to enter the Chinese base camp and the country has banned foreign nationals from climbing the mountain.
However Nepal, which relies heavily on income generated from Everest expeditions, has allowed foreign climbers, with about 400 permits allocated this season.
More than 30 sick climbers were evacuated from the Nepalese side in recent weeks as the country faces a second coronavirus wave.
Last week, the Himalayan Rescue Association, which runs a government-authorised medical clinic at base camp, told the BBC it had received confirmation of positive cases in some climbers flown out to Kathmandu by expedition teams.
In the last three weeks, Nepal's daily case rate has sky-rocketed with two out of five people tested returning positive results, AFP news agency reports.
The country has now recorded more than 394,667 cases and 3,720 deaths.
AstraZeneca: UK Under-40s to be offered alternative says JCVI
Last month, the Commission started a legal case over alleged breaches of an advance purchase agreement with the pharmaceutical company. AstraZeneca - who developed the vaccine with Oxford University - were only able to deliver about a quarter of the promised jabs due to production problems at a plant in Belgium.
Related articles
However, this new legal case will allow the EU to seek possible financial penalties.
A spokesperson for the Commission said: "Tomorrow the case against AstraZeneca on the merits will be introduced before the Belgian court."
Yesterday, the European Commission announced it had decided not to renew its contract with AstraZeneca beyond June.
European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said the EU has not made any new orders for AstraZeneca vaccines beyond June when their contract ends, after the bloc signed a deal with Pfizer-BioNTech.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen (Image: Getty)
EU to start legal proceedings against EU (Image: Getty)
Mr Breton also said he expected the costs of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to be higher than the earlier versions.
Officials in the bloc were particularly enraged after the company refused to divert doses of the vaccine made in two plants in the UK.
Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca's chief executive, claimed he was contractually obliged to provide doses made in Oxford and Staffordshire to UK residents in the first instance.
Announcing the start of the legal proceedings last month, a spokesperson for the Commission said some terms of the contract had not been respected.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson received AstraZeneca jab (Image: Getty)
They said: “What matters to us in this case: there’s a speedy delivery of a sufficient number of doses that European citizens are entitled to and have been promised on the basis of the contract.
“The commission has started legal action on its own behalf and on behalf of the 27 member states that are fully in line with their support for this procedure.”
Ironically, several EU member states halted use of the vaccine earlier this year amid fears it increases the risk of blood clots, despite the EU's drug regulator approving the jab.
Germany, France, Italy and Spain as well as Portugal, Slovenia, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Romania, Latvia, Austria, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Bulgaria all halted the inoculation of the jab.
Coronavirus cases around the world (Image: Express)
Iceland and Norway, who are both not members of the EU but have joined the European Economic Area (EEA), also stopped the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Back in March, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen threatened to ban the AstraZeneca vaccine from being exported from the continent.
Mrs von der Leyen said: "I think it is clear that first of all the company has to catch up.
"[It] has to honour the contract it has with European member states before it can engage again in exporting vaccines.
EU to start more legal proceedings against AstraZeneca (Image: Getty)
"We want to explain to our European citizens that they [can] get their fair share."
Mr Johnson warned the "blockades" were "not sensible".
The EU has been widely criticised for its glacial rollout of the coronavirus vaccines and around three million doses of the jabs were being administered each day.
To date, more than 35,000,000 people in the UK have received at least one dose of a vaccine, with 17,856,550 having received both jabs.
Former chief Brexit negotiator for the EU, Michel Barnier, admitted the bloc's vaccine rollout was slow.
He said the bloc does not take risks like the UK and the US.
Israel’s Supreme Court has delayed a hearing over the forced expulsions of Palestinian families in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah as tensions in the city have soared in recent days.
At least 90 Palestinians were injured on Saturday evening in an Israeli police crackdown on protesters outside the Old City of Jerusalem as tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers prayed at Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, on the holy night of Laylat al-Qadr.
The violence came after Israeli forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and injured more than 200 Palestinians on Friday night. Israeli forces said 17 of their officers were wounded over the past two days.
Tensions have escalated in Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, amid growing anger about potential forced expulsions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, on land claimed by illegal Jewish settlers.
Israeli security forces were on high alert on Sunday, bracing for a further escalation ahead of what Israelis call Jerusalem Day on Monday. Many Israelis mark the day East Jerusalem was occupied in 1967 – and later annexed by Israel – with marches throughout the city each year.
Here are all the latest updates:
29 Palestinian children injured over two days in East Jerusalem: UNICEF
The UN’s child rights agency (UNICEF) says at least 29 Palestinian children have been injured and eight were arrested in Israel’s crackdown on demonstrations in occupied East Jerusalem over the past two days.
“A one-year old toddler was among those injured. Some children were taken for treatment at hospitals with injuries in the head and the spine,” UNICEF said in a statement on Sunday.
“UNICEF received reports that ambulances were restricted from arriving on location to assist and evacuate the injured and that an on-site clinic was reportedly hit and searched.”
Israeli forces patrol near Jerusalem’s Old City on May 9 [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]
Israeli police injure journalist at Damascus Gate
Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from East Jerusalem, said Israeli police had again deployed tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon on Palestinian protesters this evening at Damascus Gate – with a journalist injured in the leg by a fragment from a stun grenade.
He said Palestinians had thrown bottles and stones at Israeli police.
“But in terms of the sort of face-to-face, close quarters physical violence that we saw taking place on Saturday, there’s been less of that,” he said.
Fawcett said Jerusalem Day on Monday is expected to bring more tensions, with right-wing Israeli nationalists set to march, sing and wave flags in Palestinian neighbourhoods.
“If that takes place in the same way as in previous years, that would be another serious flashpoint.”
Israeli police arrest 15 at protest in Haifa
Israeli police arrested 15 people during a rally in Haifa in solidarity with Palestinians facing forced displacement from their homes in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, Israeli media outlets reported on Sunday.
Other protests were held on Sunday in Nazareth, as well as in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Mohammed el-Kurd, a Sheikh Jarrah resident whose family is facing forced eviction, told Al Jazeera from the protest in Nazareth that Palestinians in East Jerusalem “are under the constant threat of settler violence”.
“That’s what happens when you put settlers in a Palestinian neighbourhood; they abuse the Indigenous people,” he said.
Police crackdowns on protesters in Haifa after declaring a solidarity demonstration with #SheikhJarah illegal. At least 15 people were reportedly arrested including local activist and writer @Majdkayyalhttps://t.co/dYwdZUGzz9
Seventeen injured in East Jerusalem protests: Palestinian Red Crescent
At least 17 people, including one Palestinian paramedic, were injured during peaceful demonstrations across East Jerusalem on Sunday evening, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Al Jazeera’s Dareen Jubeh reported that a Red Crescent paramedic was shot by Israeli soldiers with a rubber-coated steel bullet on the Mount of Olives, a neighbourhood close to the Old City.
“[The] Israeli army attacked the Red Crescent ambulances with rubber bullets and sound grenades,” Jubeh also said.
IN PICTURES: Palestinians protest forced expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah
Hundreds of Palestinian protesters took to the streets in another day of demonstrations against forced expulsions in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem.
Below are a few images of the protests:
Palestinians demonstrate against a possible eviction of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah [Emmanuel Dunand/AFP]Palestinians run away as Israeli police use a water cannon in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 9 [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]Palestinian pray across from a home that was taken over by Jewish settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, on May 9 [Emmanuel Dunand/AFP]
Pakistani PM Imran Khan urges world to protect rights of Palestinians
Pakistan’s prime minister has urged the international community to take immediate action to protect Palestinians in the wake of Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“Strongly condemn Israeli Force’s attack, especially during Ramadan on Palestinians in Qibla-e- Awaal, Al-Aqsa Mosque, violating all norms of humanity and International law(s). We reiterate support for Palestinian people,” Imran Khan tweeted.
“[The] International community must take immediate action to protect Palestinians and their legitimate rights,” Khan said.
Israeli security forces attack Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah
Israeli police have attacked dozens of protesters in Sheikh Jarrah, with one person injured, Al Jazeera correspondent Dareen Jubeh reported.
“There are dozens protesting, chanting in solidarity with the people in Sheikh Jarrah. At Iftar the Israeli army attacked Palestinians, using horse cavalry units,” Jubeh said.
— Marwa Fatafta #SaveSheikhJarrah (@marwasf) May 9, 2021
Scenes ‘less tense’ than previous night at Al-Aqsa compound: Correspondent
The situation at the compound of Al-Aqsa mosque was less tense on Sunday than it has been in previous days, Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett reported from occupied East Jerusalem.
“We have seen a few very young largely Palestinian children trying to demolish some of the barricades that the Israeli security forces have slapped on the roadway,” he said.
“That was the only time really that we’ve seen much an intervention from the security forces.
“They moved in and clear them away without firing the water cannon. We’ve had a couple of stun grenades in the distance, but certainly compared to the kind of actions that we saw on Saturday night, things [tensions] seem to be reduced.”
Sheikh Jarrah house attacked with stones, resident says
Sheikh Jarrah resident Mohammed el-Kurd said Israeli settlers invaded the roof of his home on Sunday, attacking it with stones.
“A soldier (another settler) came at one point and asked the settler to leave, saying ‘its all good,'” el-Kurd posted on Twitter.
US Muslim groups decry Israeli police violence against Palestinians
American Muslim organisations on Sunday strongly condemned Israeli violence at Al-Aqsa mosque, which has left hundreds of Palestinians injured during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In a statement, the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) said it denounced the nighttime attack and desecration of Al-Aqsa by Israeli forces and the firing of stun grenades at worshippers offering Ramadan prayers.
The organisation urged US President Joe Biden and Congress to halt its financial support for Israeli government and institutions in their “clear crimes against humanity”.
WATCH: Protests erupt across the world from Jordan to London
Very heavy police presence at the #SheikhJarrah protest at Downing Street.
CALLING ANY TRAINED LEGAL OBSERVERS – we need more people on the ground NOW.
*From Chicago to Jerusalem: Freedom for Palestine.🇵🇸✊🏻*
The Palestinian community in Chicago hold a vigil calling for an end to the Israeli forcible displacement of families in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem.
Al Jazeera Arabic has reported scuffles breaking out between Israeli and Palestinian students protesting at the entrances of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Israeli security forces used sound and gas bombs to disperse the demonstrators.
Witnesses reported that the Israeli police carried out arrests among the students, and a number of protesters were hurt after being sprayed with tear gas.
FEATURE: What is happening in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah?
Dozens of Palestinians are facing imminent dispossession from their homes in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in what they say is a move to force them out and replace it entirely with a Jewish settlement.
The Jerusalem District Court ruled at least six families must vacate their homes in Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday, despite living there for generations.
Palestinian, Israeli, and foreign activists lift banners and placards during a demonstration against Israeli occupation and settlement activity in Sheikh Jarrah [File: Ahmad Gharbali/AFP]
Only ‘pressure from outside’ will work: Gideon Levy
Israeli journalist and author Gideon Levy said Israeli policies towards Palestinians, like those threatened with forced expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah, can only be changed by outside pressure.
“Anyone who expects the Israelis to wake up one morning and think ‘this occupation is not nice, let’s put an end to it’ is living in an illusion because Israel never had the intention to put an end to the occupation,” Levy told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv.
“The only way to change it would be by putting pressure from the outside. What was so efficient with apartheid South Africa might be efficient here. Nothing but this.”
A Sheikh Jarrah resident said Israeli settlers took over one section of his house in 2009 and are now not only looking to take over the other half but seven other homes in the neighbourhood, adding that such moves were “nothing new”.
“It’s an expansionist colonial policy that has taken place since the inception of Israel in 1948,” Mohammed el-Kurd told Al Jazeera.
A video of el-Kurd’s sister Mona confronting a settler in her garden went viral last week.
“What happened to my sister and everybody in the neighbourhood is continued confrontations with these Israeli settlers who agitate us not only by stealing our properties but by continuing to make the claim that they are going to continue to steal the land, all of the houses and the entirety of Jerusalem,” el-Kurd said.
This doesn't describe the Israeli occupier's logic only; it also describes the rudeness of those who support the Israeli colonial policies of expropriating the Palestinian occupied lands. pic.twitter.com/OSB0QejwCT
Netanyahu: Israel ‘rejects’ pressure not to build in Jerusalem
Israel “firmly rejects” pressure not to build in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, following days of unrest and growing international condemnation of forced displacements of Palestinians from homes in the city claimed by illegal Jewish settlers.
Hope Netanyahu government ‘disappear politically’: Former Israeli minister
Former Israeli Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin told Al Jazeera he hoped the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “disappear politically” in the next few days, and that a new, more sensitive government will emerge.
Israel’s president tapped opposition leader Yair Lapid to form a new government earlier this week, after Netanyahu failed to cobble together a governing coalition.
“I really hope that the majorities on both [Israeli and Palestinian] sides, are reasonable – the last thing that they need is the Israeli police entering the Haram al-Sharif,” Beilin said, referring to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“Maybe the new government in Israel will contribute to ending these idiotic confrontations which have gone on for thousands of years.”
Former Israeli Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin [Al Jazeera]
Sheikh Jarrah families condemn court delay
Families in Sheikh Jarrah condemned the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court that delayed Monday’s hearings on forced expulsions in the East Jerusalem neighborhood, while calling for more solidarity with the families on the ground, and also on social media.
In a statement sent to Al Jazeera, the families said they expected the delay. They said they will continue to need support and solidarity as the “occupation violence” against them will not stop.
‘Will not allow violent disturbances’: Israeli PM
Addressing a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will not allow any extremists to destabilise the calm in Jerusalem. We will enforce law and order decisively and responsibly.”
“We will continue to maintain freedom of worship for all faiths, but we will not allow violent disturbances,” he said.
Netanyahu, wearing a mask for protection against the COVID-19 pandemic, attends a special cabinet meeting on the occasion of ‘Jerusalem Day’ at the city’s municipality building on May 9, 2021 [Amit Shabi/POOL/AFP]
‘Enough of the clashes’: Pope
Pope Francis on Sunday expressed concern over the violence in Jerusalem and invited all “to find shared solutions so that the multi-religious and multicultural identity of the Holy City is respected”.
“I pray that it be a place of encounter and not of clashes, a place of prayer and peace,” Francis told the public gathered in St Peter’s Square for his traditional Sunday noon remarks.
“Violence only generates violence. Enough of the clashes!” the pontiff added.
Israel’s justice ministry said it would delay a key Monday hearing in a case that could see Palestinian families forcefully expelled from their East Jerusalem homes to make way for illegal Jewish settlers.
“In all the circumstances and in light of the attorney general’s request, the regular hearing for tomorrow, May 10, 2021 [is] cancelled,” it said in a statement, adding it would schedule a new hearing within 30 days.
Dozens of Palestinians and several Israeli police officers have been wounded at protests in recent days in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, the scene of a long-running land dispute and located a short walk from flashpoint holy sites.
[Al Jazeera]
Jordan warns Israel against ‘barbaric’ attacks on mosque: Statement
Jordan urged Israel on Sunday to stop what it described as “barbaric” attacks on worshippers in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and said it would step up international pressure.
“What the Israeli police and special forces are doing, from violations against the mosque to attacks on worshippers, is barbaric [behaviour] that is rejected and condemned,” the government said in a statement.
Jordan, which has custodianship of Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem, said Israel should respect worshippers and international law safeguarding Arab rights.
Israeli forces stormed Al-Aqsa and fired rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at protesters on Friday evening, injuring more than 200 Palestinians.
More than 90 Palestinians have been injured in another night of clashes in Jerusalem with tension throughout Israel, Gaza and the West Bank at its highest level in years.
In the south, a rocket was fired from the Gaza strip into Israel and Palestinians rioted along their side of the Israeli-built border fence.
The rocket landed in open ground prompting the Israeli Air Force to strike a military position belonging to the Hamas organisation, which governs within Gaza.
Image:Palestinians pray in front of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday night
Hamas leaders said the protests along the Gaza fence were a response in solidarity with Palestinians injured in the Friday night clashes in Jerusalem where more than 200 Palestinians were injured in the worst night of violence since 2017.
90,000 Palestinian worshippers had gathered on Saturday night at the courtyard outside the Old City's Al Aqsa mosque to mark Laylat Al Qadr, the holiest night in the month of Ramadan.
Advertisement
Israeli police, who had fired stun grenades in the courtyard and into the mosque on Friday, used sponge-tipped bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse protests against the police which began at the end of prayers.
The Al Aqsa complex is one of Islam's most revered sites but is also the location of the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount.
More on Gaza
Image:People help an injured man in Sheikh Jarrah district. Pic: AP
The mosque courtyard sits adjacent to and above the Jewish Western Wall plaza. Police say they were forced to evacuate Jewish worshippers from the Western Wall area twice because of stone throwing.
More clashes took place at the Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City which has been a site of tensions throughout Ramadan and in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood where an Israeli court is due to rule on an eviction order against Palestinian homes to make way for Jewish settlers.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the Israeli police initially prevented ambulances from reaching the injured.
Eleven people were taken to hospital. Six of the wounded are under 18, including a one-year-old.
Image:Israeli security forces during a demonstration against the planned eviction process in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. Pic: AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held meetings with his defence minister and military chief ahead of Jerusalem Day, marking the city's reunification by Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967, which begins at sunset on Sunday.
There are expectations of further serious clashes on Monday because of a confluence of controversial moments.
Parades by Jewish nationalists through Jerusalem's Old City are planned for Sunday evening and Monday morning.
Some will march through the Muslim quarter and are likely to be given access to the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa compound.
And on Monday morning, three Supreme Court justices are expected to hear requests from three Palestinian families who live in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood to cancel their eviction orders.
The Quartet of Middle East negotiators - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the UN - expressed 'deep concern" over the violence on Saturday.
Clashes erupted between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police outside the Old City of Jerusalem on Saturday, as tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers prayed at the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque on Islam’s holy night of Laylat al-Qadr.
Palestinian youth threw stones, lit fires and tore down police barricades in the streets leading to the walled Old City gates as Israeli security forces on horseback and in riot gear deployed stun grenades and water cannons.
At least 64 people were injured, the Palestine Red Crescent said. Israeli police said at least one officer was hurt.
The clashes came the day after Israeli forces stormed Al-Aqsa and injured more than 200 Palestinians.
Tensions have mounted in the city, the occupied West Bank and Gaza throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, amid growing anger over the potential eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers.
Israeli border guards have over the past few days used skunk water, tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and shock grenades to disperse sit-ins held in support of the families facing eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
At least 205 Palestinians and 18 Israeli officers were injured in Friday’s confrontations, which drew international condemnations and calls for calm.
Here are all the latest updates:
Palestinian injury toll rises to 64 in East Jerusalem
Medics reported that at least 64 Palestinians have now been wounded in the latest clashes with Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem – mostly by rubber bullets, stun grenades or beatings.
The wounded includes minors and a one-year-old, and 11 people were taken to hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Israeli police said at least one officer was hurt.
An injured Palestinian woman is evacuated during clashes with Israeli police near Damascus Gate [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]
Tens of thousands mark Laylat al-Qadr at Al-Aqsa Mosque
An estimated 90,000 people gathered for nighttime Laylat al-Qadr prayers at Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest site in Islam.
Laylat al-Qadr or the “Night of Destiny,” are the most sacred prayers.
Palestinian devotees pray on Laylat al-Qadr at Al-Aqsa on Saturday [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]Palestinians pray at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City [Ammar Awad/Reuters]An estimated 90,000 gathered at Al-Aqsa for the prayers[Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]
At least 53 Palestinians injured in Saturday night clashes
The Palestinian Red Crescent has said 53 Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli police in East Jerusalem on Saturday night.
Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem, said there had been a “repeated cycle of clashes and calm” in the area between Palestinian protesters throwing plastic bottles and Israeli security forces deploying stun grenades and foul smelling skunk water.
“We have also seen some running scuffles, with people being dragged to the ground and beaten [by police] – not being arrested, but sent on their way.”
At least 53 Palestinians have so far been injured by Israeli police in East Jerusalem on Saturday night, says the Palestinian Red Crescent. https://t.co/DJH18GxYbu
Mohammed el-Kurd, a Palestinian resident of Sheikh Jarrah, has shared footage of Israeli police violently dispersing a sit-in by Palestinian protesters in the neighbourhood.
In one video, a group of policemen is seen destroying tents and pushing people away from the protest site. Another clip showed an officer violently dragging a Palestinian woman along the road.
Israeli forces have gone mad in Sheikh Jarrah, beating everyone in sight, demolishing the solidarity tents, using excessive force… Impunity breeds fascism.
While the Occupation forces continue to assault, and arrest Palestinians at Damascus Gate & Al-Aqsa Mosque, they suppress and brutalize the protesters in Sheikh Jarrah. #JerusalemRevoltspic.twitter.com/UTPWTlTvx2
Arab League meeting unlikely to change much on the ground: Analyst
An emergency Arab League meeting scheduled for Monday is unlikely to produce any change in Israel’s behaviour unless Arab states, notably those that have normalised relations with Israel, decide to take meaningful action, said Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst.
“Unless the Arab League does take some serious initiative, including putting some of those states that normalise relations with Israel on notice, unless some of those Arab countries use their leverage whether its diplomatic or other with Israel, I think we will see simply more statements,” Bishara said.
“Statements that are perhaps loud in denunciations and condemnation, but very short or low on actionable leverage in terms of forcing Israel, or its allies, not only the United States, to act in order to stop the repressions of Palestinians in Jerusalem.”
Israeli police fire rubber bullets, skunk water to disperse protesters in Jerusalem neighbourhood
Israeli police have used rubber-coated bullets and skunk water to disperse protesters in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, an Al Jazeera correspondent said.
Hundreds of protesters are currently gathered in the vicinity of Othman Ben Afan street, where Palestinians families threatened with evictions live, the correspondent added.
Israeli security forces arrest a protester during a demonstration by Palestinians against the possible eviction of local Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood [Menahem Kahana/AFP]
Turkey’s Erdogan condemns storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the raid by Israeli police on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday.
“We strongly condemn Israel’s heinous attacks against our first qibla #AlAqsaMosque, that are unfortunately being carried out every Ramadan,” Erdogan wrote on Twitter.
We strongly condemn Israel's heinous attacks against our first qibla #AlAqsaMosque, that are unfortunately being carried out every Ramadan.
As Turkey, we will continue to stand by our Palestinian brothers and sisters in all circumstances.
Senator Sanders: US must speak out against Jerusalem evictions
US Senator Bernie Sanders in a tweet on Saturday called on the US government to make clear its stance against the eviction of Palestinian families in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
The United States must speak out strongly against the violence by government-allied Israeli extremists in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and make clear that the evictions of Palestinian families must not go forward.
Arab-Israeli NGO urges end to incursions on Al-Aqsa Mosque
An Arab-Israeli NGO has called on senior Israeli officials to order security forces to halt their “violent incursions” into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and refrain from using excessive force against Palestinian worshippers and medical personnel.
In a letter to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and Israeli Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, lawyer Wesam Sharaf of Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said the incursions endangered the lives of worshippers, and violated their right to freedom of worship.
“The [Israeli police’s] dispersal of prayer sessions using excessive force and disproportionate and abusive means constitutes a grave violation of the constitutional right of worshippers to freedom of worship, in a manifestly disproportionate manner,” Sharaf said.
‘Not $1’: US lawmaker urges end to complicity in Israeli abuses
Over the past several years, US Congresswoman Betty McCollum has tried to spur a debate in the United States about the billions of dollars that Washington sends to Israel each year.
The Democrat from Minnesota wants to know more about just where the money is going, while ensuring that Israel is not using US military assistance to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians.
Last month, McCollum introduced her latest bill, which aims to get guarantees that US aid is not used in abuses against Palestinian children, the destruction of Palestinian property, the removal of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, or Israel’s attempts to further annex Palestinian land.
These horrific attacks on Palestinian worshippers come as the Israeli military plan to evict more than 500 Palestinians from their homes in the illegally occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli police block buses of Israeli-Palestinians heading to Al-Aqsa
Israel’s national police chief announced that he was beefing up forces in Jerusalem ahead of expected disturbances in the coming days following Friday’s protests.
Incredible sight: Thousands of Palestinian citizens in Israel make way on foot to Al-Aqsa after Israeli police blocked their buses. Tonight is the Night of Kadir, one of the holiest nights in Islam. The Israeli police are working hard again to cause chaos. pic.twitter.com/GN06QmZ4JJ
— Louis Fishman لوي فيشمان לואי פישמן (@Istanbultelaviv) May 8, 2021
Thousands of Palestinians were expected to return to Al-Aqsa Mosque after dark fell for the sacred Muslim night of Laylat al-Qadr.
Television footage showed buses of Muslim worshippers from Israeli Arab cities being stopped by police on the main highway to Jerusalem.
Word of the roadblock spread on social media, drawing hundreds of young men from nearby Arab villages and Jerusalem.
Israeli forces patrol near Jerusalem’s Old City on May 9 [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]
Palestinians demonstrate against a possible eviction of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah [Emmanuel Dunand/AFP]
Palestinians run away as Israeli police use a water cannon in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 9 [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]
Palestinian pray across from a home that was taken over by Jewish settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, on May 9 [Emmanuel Dunand/AFP]
Palestinian, Israeli, and foreign activists lift banners and placards during a demonstration against Israeli occupation and settlement activity in Sheikh Jarrah [File: Ahmad Gharbali/AFP]
Former Israeli Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin [Al Jazeera]
Netanyahu, wearing a mask for protection against the COVID-19 pandemic, attends a special cabinet meeting on the occasion of ‘Jerusalem Day’ at the city’s municipality building on May 9, 2021 [Amit Shabi/POOL/AFP]
[Al Jazeera]
An injured Palestinian woman is evacuated during clashes with Israeli police near Damascus Gate [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]
Palestinian devotees pray on Laylat al-Qadr at Al-Aqsa on Saturday [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]
Palestinians pray at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City [Ammar Awad/Reuters]
An estimated 90,000 gathered at Al-Aqsa for the prayers[Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]
Israeli security forces arrest a protester during a demonstration by Palestinians against the possible eviction of local Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood [Menahem Kahana/AFP]