Violence between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel continued overnight on Friday. A 12-year-old Arab Israeli boy was hospitalized with burns after a Molotov attack in Jaffa, a neighborhood south of Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media reports.
On Saturday, demonstrations were planned in cities and villages across Israel and the West Bank, and at the Lebanese and Jordanian borders. Funerals were also planned for 11 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in clashes in the West Bank on Friday as the area emerged as a new flash point.
The bloodshed on the streets has triggered a new round of violence in Gaza. Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and cities and communities in southern Israel as hundreds of rockets were fired into Israel overnight and into Saturday. The Israeli military said it had carried out more airstrikes on the enclave into the early hours of Saturday morning in response to more than 2,300 rockets fired toward Israel over the past week.
Health authorities in Gaza said that eight people, including women and children, were killed in a strike at Gazas Shati refugee camp.
- Naqba day demonstrations are expected to draw thousands of Palestinians to the streets on Saturday afternoon in cities in the West Bank and Israel.
- Militants in Gaza fired hundreds more rockets overnight, bringing the total to about 2,300 over six days of violence, according to the Israeli military. Some hit buildings in Israel cities, including at least one in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. Rocket sirens sounded in Tel Aviv.
- As Israeli continued to strike targets in the densely populated Gaza Strip, the death toll climbed to 139, including 39 children, with 1000 wounded, Gazas Health Ministry reported.
- Two Arab Israeli children were injured overnight after a molotov cocktail was thrown into their home in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media and footage from the scene.
- The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated 1757 injuries in the West Bank and Jerusalem on Friday, including 250 inflicted by live ammunition. The Palestinian Health ministry issued a call for people to donate blood.
- Several people tried to cross into Israel from Lebanon overnight, the Israeli military said, digging into the ground and cutting the order fence in what it called an attempted attack with great severity.
The spiral of violence, which erupted after a series of anti-Arab demonstrations in Jerusalem and the storming of its al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israeli security forces over a week ago, has echoes of the days of the countrys two intifadas mass Palestinian uprisings against Israel.
At midday, sirens sounded in central Ramallah to mark Nakba day, as they also wailed across kibbutz communities near the Gaza strip as Hamas fired more rocket salvos, sending Israelis into their shelters.
I think for Palestinians its less about commemorating Nakba right now and more about commemorating the ongoing Nakba, said Mariam Barghouti, a Palestinian writer and activist in Ramallah. Thats the difference this time.
Violence has bubbled up in areas once known for having Jews and Arabs live side by side in relative calm. Israeli police said it made 15 arrests overnight in the city of Lod, seizing weapons and molotov cocktails. Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of emergency after unrest sparked by the killing of a 25-year-old Arab Israeli resident.
In Jaffa, the father of the 12-year-old boy burned in the Molotov attack told Haaretz that the family were in their living room when the firebomb came through the window. Israeli police said that an investigation had been opened and that one person was lightly injured.
Rocket sirens could also be heard over the southern city of Sderot as bombardment continued on Saturday. The Israeli military said that it had intercepted a drone sent from Gaza.
Hazem Balousha contributed from Gaza.