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Israeli Strike Kills a Leader of Islamic Jihad Clashes Spread to West Bank: 5 Protesters Die in ‘Day of Rage’
(about 4 hours later)
JERUSALEM — Israeli forces killed a leader of Islamic Jihad’s military wing and two of his sons early Friday with an airstrike on their home in the southern Gaza Strip, as the Palestinian death toll topped 800 in the battle’s 18th day. A 36-year-old reservist also fell in combat in Gaza’s north, the military said, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed over the past week to 33. JERUSALEM — Violence spread to the West Bank on Friday as enraged Palestinians protested Israel’s continuing military offensive in Gaza. At least five Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces, according to Palestinian medical officials and local news reports, adding to the explosive atmosphere in the region and raising the specter of further unrest.
A statement from Islamic Jihad, which has been fighting Israel alongside the Islamist Hamas movement, said that Salah Abu Hassanein, 45 — a spokesman for its militia, Al-Quds Brigades — and his sons, aged 15 and 12, were killed in the entrance to their home in the southern city of Rafah. The protests came on what Palestinians planned as a “day of rage” over the war in Gaza, where 18 days of combat have cost the lives of more than 800 Palestinians, most of them civilians, as well as 33 Israeli soldiers. Three civilians in Israel have also been killed in rocket and mortar fire from Gaza. Following an international outcry over a deadly strike Thursday on a school in Gaza where civilians had taken refuge, Secretary of State John Kerry and other diplomats pressed their efforts on Friday to arrange a cease-fire.
The Israeli military highlighted the attacks against Mr. Hassanein and eight other operatives of Islamic Jihad and Hamas it said had been killed in recent days, amid international outcry over the civilians killed Thursday at a school where they had sought refuge. Palestinians planned to mount demonstrations in Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank on Friday, the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, known as Al Quds Day. A spokesman for the Israeli police said that sporadic disturbances broke out in some East Jerusalem neighborhoods early in the afternoon, as 10,000 Muslims attended prayers in the Al Aksa Mosque compound. Hoping to head off trouble, Israeli authorities barred men under 50 from entering the compound.
A spokesman for the Israeli police said sporadic disturbances broke out early Friday afternoon in some East Jerusalem neighborhoods as 10,000 Muslims attended prayers in Al Aksa Mosque compound, where men under 50 were barred out of concern about clashes. Weeks of simmering tensions and outbursts of violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has increased talk among Israelis and Palestinians alike about the specter of a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising. But many said that such uprisings, by their nature, could not be planned or predicted.
Palestinians planned demonstrations in Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank to turn the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan — known as Al Quds Day — into a “day of rage.” The police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said 40 Palestinians were arrested and 29 Israeli officers injured during overnight clashes in East Jerusalem. At least one Palestinian was killed by Israeli forces during a march Thursday night in which thousands chanted, “With our soul and blood, we will redeem Gaza.” “The intifada does not start by a decision and end by a decision,” said Othman Abu Gharbiya, a member of the Fatah central committee, a decision-making body of the mainstream secular party that dominates the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Still, he said, “no doubt we are passing through a dangerous time.”
Against an intensifying diplomatic background, airstrikes in Gaza and rockets fired into Israel continued — Israel said two were intercepted over Tel Aviv on Friday and shrapnel from another damaged an apartment building in the coastal city of Ashkelon. Secretary of State John Kerry was said to be working in Cairo to build support for a two-stage cease-fire plan that would halt hostilities for seven days while broader terms were discussed, but allow Israeli troops to remain in Gaza and perhaps even continue to destroy the tunnels they have discovered leading into their territory. Trouble erupted Thursday night during a march at the Qalandia checkpoint that separates the West Bank town of Ramallah from Jerusalem. Thousands of marchers chanted, “With our soul and blood, we will redeem Gaza,” and clashes broke out between stone-throwing youths and Israeli security forces. One Palestinian teenager was killed and scores were wounded.
Israeli news outlets reported that Mr. Kerry would fly to Paris on Friday and meet with his counterparts from France, Britain, Qatar and Turkey, as well as the European Union’s foreign policy chief and the secretary-general of the Arab League. Ban Ki Moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, was also in Cairo and scheduled to address journalists in the early afternoon. The funeral of the youth, Muhammad al-Araj, 17, drew thousands of mourners on Friday. His father, Ziad al-Araj, 41, a plasterer from the nearby Qalandia refugee camp, said that after seeing the bodies of women and children killed in Gaza on television, his son had told him that he wanted to join the fighters there. “He wrote in his phone, ‘I hope to be a martyr,’ ” Mr. Araj said.
The imam at the Qalandia camp’s mosque assailed Israel in his Friday sermon, shouting in fury, “Kill me, cut me into pieces, drown me in blood, you will never live in my land, you will never live in my sky!”
The spokesman for the Israeli police, Micky Rosenfeld, said that 40 Palestinians were arrested during clashes overnight in East Jerusalem, and 29 Israeli officers were wounded.
Two of the Palestinians who were killed on Friday were shot in Hawara, just south of Nablus, according to a medical official at Rafadiyeh Hospital in Nablus. Palestinian news reports said that at least one of them was shot by a female Israeli settler.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said that an Israeli woman got out of her vehicle and fired in the air as about 200 Palestinians were rioting near Hawara, blocking the road and hurling rocks. The spokeswoman, speaking on the condition of anonymity under army rules, said she had no further information about the event.
The medical official at Rafadiyeh Hospital said the two men killed at Hawara were Khaled Azmi Odeh, 19, who he said was shot in the abdomen, and Tayeb Saleh Odeh, 22, who he said was shot in the head.
Three more Palestinians were killed in Beit Ommar, near Hebron in the southern West Bank, according to local activists and Palestinian news reports. The activists said all three were shot with live ammunition at a demonstration. They identified the three as Sultan Shuqdam, Abd al-Hamid Breigheth, and Hashem Abu Maria. Mr. Maria, 47, was said to have worked with Defense of Children International-Palestine, an advocacy group.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces killed a member of Islamic Jihad’s military wing and two of his sons early Friday with an airstrike near Rafah. A statement from Islamic Jihad, which has been fighting Israel alongside Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, said that the airstrike killed Salah Abu Hassanein, 45, and his sons, ages 15 and 12, in the entrance to their home. Mr. Hassanein was a spokesman for Islamic Jihad’s militia, the Al-Quds Brigades.
The Israeli military, which has made a point of targeting Islamic Jihad and Hamas operatives, said that besides Mr. Hassanein, it had killed eight others in recent days. It also said that a 36-year-old reservist was killed in combat in northern Gaza.
Palestinian militants in Gaza continued to fire rockets into Israel on Friday. The Israeli military said two were intercepted over Tel Aviv by the country’s Iron Dome antimissile system, but shrapnel from another damaged an apartment building in the coastal city of Ashkelon.
Mr. Kerry was said to be working in Cairo to build support for a two-stage cease-fire plan that would halt hostilities for seven days while broader terms were discussed, but allow Israeli troops to remain in Gaza and perhaps even continue to destroy the tunnels they have discovered leading into their territory.
Israeli news outlets reported that Mr. Kerry would fly to Paris on Friday and meet with his counterparts from France, Britain, Qatar and Turkey, as well as the European Union’s foreign policy chief and the secretary-general of the Arab League. Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, was also in Cairo and scheduled to address journalists in the early afternoon.
Israel’s senior ministers were scheduled to meet Friday afternoon to consider Mr. Kerry’s initiative — as well as a possible expansion of the aerial bombardment of Gaza that began on July 8 and the ground operation that followed on July 17.Israel’s senior ministers were scheduled to meet Friday afternoon to consider Mr. Kerry’s initiative — as well as a possible expansion of the aerial bombardment of Gaza that began on July 8 and the ground operation that followed on July 17.
“The conditions brought by Secretary of State Kerry are acceptable, in the main, to Israel, and they relate to the fact that we will not leave the area and we will continue with the tunnel operation,” Yaakov Peri, a centrist minister and former head of Israel’s internal security service, said on Israel Radio as he headed to the meeting. “I certainly have my doubts that Hamas will agree. If Hamas does not agree, there won’t be a humanitarian cease-fire.”“The conditions brought by Secretary of State Kerry are acceptable, in the main, to Israel, and they relate to the fact that we will not leave the area and we will continue with the tunnel operation,” Yaakov Peri, a centrist minister and former head of Israel’s internal security service, said on Israel Radio as he headed to the meeting. “I certainly have my doubts that Hamas will agree. If Hamas does not agree, there won’t be a humanitarian cease-fire.”
A statement by the Israeli military said 65,000 reservists had been mobilized for the Gaza operation, up from a previous estimate of 59,000. It said 843 rockets had been launched toward Israel since the ground offensive began; 658 landed in Israel and 166 were intercepted. Israeli forces targeted 45 sites in Gaza overnight, the military statement said.A statement by the Israeli military said 65,000 reservists had been mobilized for the Gaza operation, up from a previous estimate of 59,000. It said 843 rockets had been launched toward Israel since the ground offensive began; 658 landed in Israel and 166 were intercepted. Israeli forces targeted 45 sites in Gaza overnight, the military statement said.