Israel tries to prevent escalation after attacks on Gaza and Lebanon

Israel carried out retaliatory strikes against military positions belonging to the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon, though it struck selective targets to prevent an escalation of violence as tensions remain high in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

After intense attacks by the Israeli army on southern Lebanon and the Strip, areas from which Palestinian militants fired rockets, the rest of Friday passed without firefights.

The most serious incident occurred in the northern occupied West Bank, where two Israeli settler women were killed and a third seriously injured in a shooting that Israeli authorities and medical services linked to Palestinian attackers.

The Israeli army also called up reservists, especially airplane pilots and drone operators.

After the launch of 36 missiles from Lebanon into northern Israel – the largest attack from this Arab country in 17 years – the debate between the Israeli government and the defense apparatus turned on how to act without dragging the country into open conflict with the militia . Hezbollah, an ally of Iran and Israel’s main enemy in Lebanon, with whom it was already at war in 2006.

In turn, on another Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the main day of prayer, some 130,000 Palestinians attended the Esplanade of the Mosques to pray without serious incident. According to the press, some believers waved Palestinian Hamas flags.

The Esplanade – the third holiest site in Islam and the first for Judaism – has been the epicenter of tension and spark for the current escalation following Israeli police’s violent invasion of Al Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday night on Thursday.

This led to fierce clashes with Palestinians, leaving more than 30 injured and 350 prisoners. Another open front is the Gaza Strip, which has been blocked by Israel since Hamas — which it considers a terrorist group — came to power.




Source: El heraldo

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