Jerusalem, Sept. 12, 2020 (Xinhua) -- People wearing face masks are seen in Jerusalem's Old City amid the COVID-19 pandemic on Sept. 11, 2020. Israel's Ministry of Health reported 3,038 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total number in the country to 148,564. (Photo by Muammar Awad/Xinhua/IANS)
The EU mission said that “the Israeli laws do not absolve Israel, as the occupying power, from fulfilling its obligations to administer the occupied territories in a manner that protects the local population”…reports Asian Lite News.
The European Union (EU) said that Israel’s measures of displacing the Palestinians in East Jerusalem and demolishing their homes “are illegal and lead to more violence”.
In a statement issued on Monday, the EU mission in Palestine said that the Israeli authorities demolished last week a Palestinian store in the al-Bustan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, reports Xinhua news agency.
Saying the Israeli authorities gave demolition orders to owners of several other buildings and another 20 homes, the statement added more than 1,000 Palestinians who live in the neighbourhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem are facing the similar threat.
The EU mission said that “the Israeli laws do not absolve Israel, as the occupying power, from fulfilling its obligations to administer the occupied territories in a manner that protects the local population”.
“Israel’s settlement policy is illegal under international law,” the statement said, referring to unilateral measures taken such as forced transfers, evictions, demolition and confiscation of homes.
It added that all of Israel’s measures will lead to more violence and human suffering.
The EU called on the Israeli authorities to stop these activities immediately and provide appropriate permits for the legal construction and development of Palestinian communities.
“The EU is committed to achieving a two-state solution that meets Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty and ends the occupation that began in 1967,” the statement said.
The Palestinians regard East Jerusalem, which includes Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the capital of their future state, while Israel insists on considering unified Jerusalem as its eternal capital.
Israeli army Artillery Corps fire into the Gaza Strip near the southern Israeli city of Sderot amid escalating tension on May 12, 2021. (JINI via Xinhua/IANS)
With regard to the Security Council, , UN chief’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the more unified the council is, the stronger its voice and the stronger its impact, reports Asian Lite News
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for a unified Security Council over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and regretted the lack of multilateralism.
Asked what the secretary-general expects from Sunday’s emergency meeting of the Security Council on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian escalation, Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: “What we would like to see is … a strong, unified voice for de-escalation, for a cessation of hostilities and a push to get the parties back on track to find a political solution to this conflict that has been going on and on and on.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan/IANS)
Asked for the secretary-general’s comment on the fact that one single Security Council member blocked the proposal for a Friday meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just days after all council members pledged support for multilateralism, Dujarric said Guterres is concerned about the state of multilateralism “as we’ve seen it during the pandemic and as we’ve seen it in other aspects.”
“We would like to see member states put to action the ideals that we all have to live up to within this organization,” he added.
With regard to the Security Council, he said the more unified the council is, the stronger its voice and the stronger its impact.
Palestinians inspect their destroyed houses in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, on May 14, 2021. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
The Security Council on May 7 held a high-level debate on the need to uphold multilateralism and all council members came out in support of it. Yet days later, the United States, an ally of Israel, blocked the proposal for a Friday Security Council meeting, according to diplomats. The Security Council later agreed on such a meeting on Sunday.
No sign of ceasefire
Tensions between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement, the worst since 2014, have continued unabated in the Gaza Strip with no sign of any ceasefire between the two sides to end the violence.
Rockets are fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from Gaza City towards Israel, amid the escalating flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Photo: Mohammed Talatene/dpa/IANS
Overnight and at predawn on Friday, the tit-for-tat violent military confrontations between the two sides were intensified, reports Xinhua news agency.
Hamas militants fired more barrages of rockets into Israel, and Israeli fighter jets kept striking on the enclave.
The Hamas-run Ministry of Health said that 122 Palestinians have been killed, including 31 children and 20 women, and 900 others injured since Monday in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of an attack which took place outside the settlement of Ariel. (Xinhua/Nidal Eshtayeh/IANS)
Witnesses and Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that Israeli army artillery on Friday struck the eastern area of Gaza city with tanks, killing at least two.
Tanks hit the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia, killing a mother and her four children, according to medical sources.
An Israeli army spokesman said in a statement that the forces have intensively attacked posts that belong to Hamas, adding that 160 war jets, artillery, and tanks participated in the military operation.
Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Fire and smoke rise from the collapsing Al-Shorouk Tower building after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike, amid the escalating flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence. (Photo: Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire/dpa)
The statement said 150 targets were hit overnight and on Friday morning, adding that many of the targets were underground.
It said the Israeli army will continue its strikes on the militants who fire rockets at Israel.
As the Israeli bombardments intensified, Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants announced that their militants fired more barrages of rockets into Israel.
An Israeli man injured after a rocket from the Gaza strip landed is evacuated in central Israeli city of Holon, on May 11, 2021. (Gideon Markowicz/JINI via Xinhua/IANS)
Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, claimed responsibility for launching 100 rockets at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, in response to Israel’s “targeting of civilians” in the enclave.
Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, also said that its militants carried out intensive rocket strikes at Israeli cities in southern and central Israel.
The Israeli army said Gaza militant groups have fired more than 1,750 rockets at Israel, most of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.
Fire billows from a building hit by an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, amid the escalating flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence(Photo: Mahmoud Khattab/Quds Net News via ZUMA Wire/dpa/IANS)
The rockets fired from Gaza killed at least nine Israelis and wounded 200 others.
Meanwhile, Palestinian sources said the contacts to reach calm between the two sides had so far failed, adding that Egypt, Qatar and the UN lead the mediation between the two sides for reaching a truce. (with inputs from (ANI/Xinhua)
Leaders around the world expressed concern about the escalating violence in Gaza, calling on both sides to show restraint….reports Asian Lite News
The UAE will host a virtual emergency meeting of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque.
The meeting will include speeches by speakers and representatives of Arab parliaments, and a closing statement.
The development comes as the cross-border violence, which erupted on Monday following weeks of rising tensions in the contested city of Jerusalem intensified exponentially over the last several hours.
More than two dozen Palestinians have been killed in the last day, including several children. Three Israelis died from Gaza rocket fire on Tuesday, DPA news agency reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks on Gaza, which have targeted some 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad positions since Monday, would intensify.
Israel-Gaza violence spirals
“This operation will take time, but we will bring security back to the citizens of Israel,” he said late Tuesday.
Hamas, which rules the coastal strip, would “receive blows it did not expect,” Netanyahu had said hours earlier in remarks after a meeting with military officials.
An Israeli military spokesperson said that at least 20 members from the two groups have been killed so far in Gaza, including senior officials, and some 150 missile-launchers had been destroyed.
