The conflict in the Middle East escalated this Friday when Israel launched a bombing attack on the Gaza Stripin response to the attacks carried out from that enclave a day after ten Palestinians were killed in west bank occupied by the Israeli army. In the last few hours, moreover, there was a attack on a synagogue in Jerusalemwhich left seven people dead and three hospitalized wounded.
The escalation of violence is a first trial by fire for the right-wing government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and complicates the hearing of the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, who in two days will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank. The escalation even coincides with the current visit of the director of the CIA, Bill Burnsto both places.
USA condemned the attack on the synagogue and expressed his solidarity with Israel, in a scenario that is unleashed 48 hours of the visit to Jerusalem Y Ramallah of the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.
How was the attack on the synagogue?
This Friday night the seven people shot in a terrorist attack on a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalemduring the prayer of sabbath. According to the police, the shooter was alqam khayri21 years old, resident of East Jerusalem and no previous crimes.
According to early reports, Khayti first triggered on pedestrians about 100 meters from the synagogue and then he headed towards the temple where he continued shooting. She arrived in a car around 8:15 p.m. in that area of east jerusalem. She then she fled towards him palestinian neighborhood of Bet Haninaone kilometer away, where he was intercepted.
Police confirmed that he was shot to death after the man opened fire on officers as he tried to escape on foot. The Neve Yaakov area is in the eastern sector of Jerusalem, annexed after the War of the six days in 1967. Prime Minister Netanyahu conducted an assessment with senior security officials before heading to the scene of the attack.
US ‘deeply concerned’
Following the synagogue attack, the State Department noted that it was “deeply concerned by the cycle of violence in the West Bank“although he acknowledged”the very real security challenges facing Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”
“It’s absolutely horrendous“said State Department spokesman Vedan Batel. “We condemn in the strongest terms this apparent terrorist attack. Our commitment to Israel’s security is well established and we are in direct contact with our Israeli partners,” he added.
On the other hand, the official stated that there would be no changes to Blinken’s travel planswho will meet with the leaders of Israel, west bank Y Egyptstarting this Sunday.
West Bank: the beginning of the escalation
The attack came after this Thursday, west bank occupied lived one of the most violent days in years, when Israeli troops entered Jenin —bastion of Palestinian militias– and they killed ten Palestinians, leaving 20 injured, four of them in serious condition. According to the UN, there have not been so many killed in a single Israeli operation in the West Bank since it began keeping records in 2005.
According to the Israeli Army, the invasion “anti-terrorist” was necessary for stop an alleged attack imminent by the Islamic Jihad.
The Palestinian National Authority (ANP), which partially rules the occupied West Bank, called the raid “slaughter” and terminated Security coordination with Israel. However, CIA chief Burms, whose agency has ties to PNA security, is likely to push for coordination with Israel to resume.
The operation in Jenin is “an extension of the deliberate pattern of conduct that Israel carries out international crimes to advance its annexationist policies and practices,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
After the funerals of the victims, among whom were members of the Jihad, there were several clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in different parts of the West Bank, with a dead Y at least seven injured.
According to the AFP agency, before withdrawing, the Israeli forces “they deliberately threw tear gas grenades” at the pediatric ward of a Jenin hospitalwhich “caused the suffocation of some children”, denounced the Palestinian Minister of Health, Mai Al Kaila. An Israeli army spokesman stated that “No one deliberately fired tear gas at a hospital, but the operation took place not far from a hospital and it is possible that tear gas entered through an open window.”
The jenin camp, Created in 1953, it is like a city within the city and is home to nearly 20,000 refugeesaccording to UNRWA, the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees.
The israeli armywhich has occupied the West Bank since 1967, carries out operations almost daily in that Palestinian territory, particularly in the Jenin and Nablus sectors, strongholds of armed Palestinian groups. “The Israeli army destroys everything and shoots at everything that moves,” said Jenin’s deputy governor, Kamal Abu Al-Rub. “What is happening in Jenin and in its countryside is a massacre perpetrated by the Israeli occupation government,” he said. Nabil Abu Rudeinaspokesman for the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
The Secretary General of the Arab League denounced a “bloody massacre” perpetrated”under the direct orders of Netanyahu“.
Rockets from the Gaza Strip
At the same time, in the other Palestinian territory — the Gaza Strip — the armed movements Hamas —rules in the Gaza Strip– and Islamic Jihad participated in the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, said Khaled el-Batsh, a person in charge of the latter, according to the AFP agency.
Hamas indicated that the shells carried the following message: “The enemy must be alert, because spilled Palestinian blood costs dearly.” Meanwhile, this Thursday thousands of people demonstrated in Gaza with banners that read: “Jenin, the answer is coming and resistance is our strategy.”
Hamas’s military wing, thes Al Qassam Brigadesconfirmed that their fighters they had fired anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles against Israeli bomber planes. And the spokesman for Jihad, Tariq SalmiI consider that “resistance is a legitimate right”.
Gazans told the agency EFE who heard the roar in the air of Drones Y israeli army fighters, and several explosions in the center of the Strip. According to them, more than 14 shells were shot. The official Palestinian news agency, WAFAassured that the bombardments caused serious property damage nearby and caused a general electrical blackout.
The EFE agency also indicated that the Israeli attack hit a target in a underground rocket manufacturing center in Maghazi, in the center the Gaza Strip. “This attack will significantly hamper Hamas’ efforts to build up and arming,” the source added.
UN Security Council meeting
Given this scenario, the UN Security Council will meet in a emergency session and behind closed doors at the request of United Arab Emirates, China Y France. While, Egypt, Qatar Y United Nations – mediators between Israel and Palestinian armed groups – called for avoid further escalation.
“The Secretary General of the United Nations must immediately assume his responsibility and obligation and make a decision for the international presence and protection,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry requested.
Last year, 170 Palestinians –militiamen and unarmed civilians– died in the West Bank in different incidents with Israel: it was the most violent year in the area since 2006. So far in 2023, there are already 30 fatalities in the West Bank, an average of more than one per day.
Nitzan Horowitzformer Minister of Health and main leftist leader of the previous Israeli government, criticized the president Netanyahu anticipating the chaos that the new government in the conflict with the Palestinians over the appointment of a far-right settler leader as deputy defense minister: “Chaos in the West Bank means violencemeans anarchy and means more bloodshed“.