Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed two Palestinians on Saturday after rockets were fired from the enclave, in violence that erupted over US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Beit-ul-Moqaddas as Israel’s capital.
Gaza militants launched at least three rockets toward Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip after dark on Friday. The day had been declared a “day of rage” by Palestinian factions protesting against Trump’s announcement on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
A Hamas source confirmed the two men killed in the pre-dawn air strikes belonged to the group, which has urged Palestinians to keep up the confrontation with Israeli forces.
Palestinian protests on Saturday were far less intense than on previous days.
About 60 Palestinian youths threw stones at Israeli soldiers across the Gaza-Israel border and the health ministry said one bystander was wounded by Israeli gunfire.
In the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Palestinians set fire to tires and threw stones at Israeli troops, who used tear gas. In East Beit-ul-Moqaddas about 60 people demonstrated near the walled Old City, where paramilitary border police and officers on horseback tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas.
On Friday, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in protest and two Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli troops on the Gaza border. Scores more were wounded there and in the West Bank. Across the Arab and Muslim worlds, thousands more protesters had gathered to express solidarity.
Trump’s reversal of decades of US policy has infuriated the Arab world and upset western allies, who say the move is a blow to peace efforts and risks sparking more violence in the region.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday the United States could no longer broker peace talks.
Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is leading efforts to restart the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks, efforts that so far have shown little progress.
Saudi, Egypt Green Light
Meanwhile, Israel’s TV News 10 said Saudi Arabia and Egypt gave US President Donald Trump the go ahead to recognize Beit-ul-Moqaddas as the capital of Israel and move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city, Middle East Monitor reported.
The channel said the Arab parties’ reactions and condemnations are not genuine and are misleading.
Israeli journalist and head of the Arab desk at the news channel, Zvi Yehezkeli stressed that the announcement could not have been made without coordination between Trump and his regional allies.
“I am not sure about the Arab countries’ reactions to this resolution,” Yehezkeli said, adding that the responses issued so far were not serious.
World leaders, from Europe to the Middle East to Australia, slammed the decision as a “unilateral and outside the vision of a negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” warning of “heightened tensions or even violence across the Middle East.”
