Israeli
undercover police were involved in street conflicts with Palestinian
protesters in Jerusalem today as officers were put on high alert for
flare-ups at the city's most important mosque during Friday prayers for
the final stretch of the Ramadan Muslim holy month.
Hundreds
of Palestinians protested in the traditionally Arab east of the city
after Muslim noon prayers today. A dozen protesters threw rocks and
fireworks at Israeli police, who fired stun grenades and water cannons.
Israeli
aircraft meanwhile have struck 30 houses in the Gaza Strip today,
killing a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad group and two of his
sons, as Palestinians called for a 'Day of Rage' following the clashes
between at least 10,000 protesters and Israeli security forces late
yesterday in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem.
Last
night's violence came after a UN school in Gaza, crowded with hundreds
of Palestinians seeking refuge from fierce fighting, came under fire
yesterday, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring more than 200.
An Israeli undercover policeman aims
his gun at Palestinian demonstrators while his colleagues arrest a man
during clashes following traditional Friday prayers near the Old City in
East Jerusalem
A Palestinian protester brandishes a
flare towards Israeli policemen during clashes following traditional
Friday prayers near the Old City in East Jerusalem
Israeli armed policemen stand behind
Palestinian Muslims performing the traditional Friday prayers near the
Old City in East Jerusalem
Israeli paramilitary police were on
high alert today for flare-ups at Jerusalem's most important mosque
during Friday prayers for the final stretch of the Ramadan Muslim holy
month
Palestinians stand behind burning
tyres during clashes with Israeli security forces following traditional
Friday prayers near the Old City in East Jerusalem
Palestinian
officials blamed Israel for the shelling of the school, which came on
the deadliest day so far of the current round of fighting.
However,
the Israeli military said the school 'was not a target in any way' and
raised the possibility the compound was hit by Hamas rockets.
As
further violence flared between Israelis and Palestinians in the West
Bank and Jerusalem today, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed
regional leaders to nail down a Gaza ceasefire.
Mr
Kerry, UN chief Ban Ki-Moon and Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shukri
met twice in Cairo today to try to bring a week-long pause in the
fighting, beginning as soon as this weekend.
Mr
Kerry delayed his anticipated departure from Egypt for several hours to
talk again by phone to Qatari officials who are serving as a go-between
with Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organisation and cannot
negotiate with directly.
Over
the last week, in his travels from Cairo to Ramallah to Israel, Mr
Kerry has made clear that he wanted to secure at least a temporary pause
in the violence before he returned to Washington.
Mediators
hope any truce in the Gaza Strip can coincide with a Muslim festival
that starts next week, and are looking to overcome seemingly
irreconcilable demands from Israel and Hamas-led Islamist fighters,
locked in conflict since July 8.
Palestinian stone-throwers take cover
behind a container during clashes with Israeli security forces near the
gates of Beit El Jewish settlement in the West Bank near Ramallah
following a march organised by Hamas today
Masked Palestinians aim fireworks at Israeli border police officers during clashes near Jerusalem's Old City
An undercover Israeli police officer holds a gun as others detain a Palestinian man during clashes near Jerusalem's Old City
Israeli police officers detain a Palestinian man during clashes near Jerusalem's Old City
In Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinians protested
in the traditionally Arab-populated east of the city after Muslim noon
prayers, and a dozen protesters threw rocks and fireworks at Israeli
police, who fired stun grenades and water cannons
As the diplomacy continued, so did the fighting. Gaza
officials said Israeli strikes killed 33 people on Friday, including
the head of media operations for Islamic Jihad and his son.
They put the number of Palestinian deaths in 18 days of conflict at 822, most of them civilians.
Militants
fired a barrage of rockets out of Gaza, triggering sirens across much
of southern and central Israel, including at the country's main airport.
No injuries were reported, with the Iron Dome interceptor system knocking out many of the missiles.
The
Gaza turmoil stoked tensions in the nearby West Bank. Medics said five
Palestinians were killed in separate incidents near the cities of Nablus
and Hebron, including one shooting that witnesses blamed on an apparent
Jewish settler.
A Palestinian man carries the body of
one-year-old baby Noha Mesleh, who died of wounds sustained after a UN
school in Beit Hanun came under fire, during her funeral today in Beit
Lahia, northern Gaza Strip
A Palestinian carries the body of
one-year-old baby Noha Mesleh, who died of wounds sustained after a UN
school in Beit Hanun came under fire yesterday, during her funeral today
in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip
Palestinians carry the body of
Mohammed al-Araj during his funeral in the Qalandia refugee camp near
the West Bank city of Ramallah today. Al-Araj died after he was shot
during clashes with Israeli troops on Thursday
On Thursday night, 10,000 demonstrators marched in solidarity with Gaza near the Palestinian administrative capital Ramallah.
Protesters
surged against an Israeli army checkpoint, throwing rocks and Molotov
cocktails, and Palestinian medics said one was shot dead and 200 wounded
when troops opened fire.
In
Jerusalem, meanwhile, thousands of Israeli security forces were
deployed for possible Palestinian protests after Friday prayers at a key
Muslim holy site, said police spokeswoman Luba Samri.
Israel
said an army reservist was killed in Gaza on Friday, bringing to 34 the
number of soldiers lost in a ground advance it says aims to destroy
dozens of cross-border tunnels used by Hamas to threaten its southern
farming villages and army bases.
It
also announced that a soldier unaccounted for after an ambush in Gaza
six days ago was definitely dead, although his body had not been
recovered. Hamas said on Sunday it had captured the man, but did not
release a photograph of him.
Three
civilians have also been killed in Israel by rockets from Gaza - the
kind of attack that surged last month amid Hamas anger at a crackdown on
its activists in the West Bank, prompting the July 8 launch of the
Israeli offensive.
Israeli
warplanes struck 30 houses earlier today throughout the Gaza Strip,
including the home of Salah Hassanein, a leader of the military wing of
Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after Hamas.
An Israeli army officer gives explanations to journalists during an
army organised tour in a tunnel said to be used by Palestinian militants
for cross-border attacks, at the Israeli-Gaza border
Israel says the war is meant to halt the
relentless rocket fire on its cities by Palestinian militants in Gaza
and to destroy a sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels that
Hamas is using to sneak into Israel to try to carry out attacks inside
communities near the border
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