More than 700 Palestinians have now been injured since the outbreak of violence late last week in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.
On Monday, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets towards the city and southern Israel, with six civilians reportedly hurt in the barrage, prompting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accuse the Hamas militant group of crossing a “red line” and promise a tough response.
That duly arrived in the shape of airstrikes on Monday night, which killed at least 24 people, nine of whom were children.
The first funerals have already begun to take place.
The clashes began on Friday when more than 200 Palestinians and 17 Israeli officers were hurt in Jerusalem, the violence erupting after thousands of worshippers gathered at the al-Aqsa mosque for their weekly Friday prayers and were met with a heavy police presence.
Rubber bullets and grenades were fired and arrests were made.
That show of force was in response to nightly protests breaking out at the start of the holy month of Ramadan over police restrictions at a popular gathering place, the historic Damascus Gate to the Old City, and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, which is claimed by both sides in the decades-old war.
Sheikh Jarrah
The Sheikh Jarrah district is home to the descendants of refugees who were expelled or displaced during the 1948 war in what became known by Palestinians as the “Nakba” (catastrophe).
In 1956, 28 refugee families were given housing units in an agreement between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Jordan government, to help provide shelter for the families as part of a resettlement agreement. This meant that the families were to receive legal titles and ownership of the land, but this never happened and led to an ongoing legal battle.
Following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, settlers have claimed ownership of the land, despite international law stating that they have no legal authority over the population it occupies. However, settler groups have filed several successful lawsuits to forcefully evict Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah since 1972.
In 2002, 43 Palestinians were forced to evacuate their homes, leaving many displaced.
Six years later, the Hanoun and Ghawi families were forced to leave their homes behind and in 2017 the Shamasneh family were also evicted from their home by Israeli settlers.
Recent tensions erupt
The Jerusalem District Court recently stated that six more Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah must leave their homes despite living there for many generations.
Israel’s Supreme Court was due to host another hearing on the issue on Monday as the country celebrates the occupation of East Jerusalem in what is known as “Jerusalem Day”. However, it elected to postpone its hearing at the request of the state attorney general and will now set a new date to hear the appeal of residents within the next 30 days.
The US has said it was “deeply concerned” about both the violence and the threatened evictions and was in contact with leaders on both sides to try and de-escalate tensions.
“It is critical to avoid steps that exacerbate tensions or take us farther away from peace,” the State Department said in a statement.
The EU has also urged calm. It said the potential evictions were of “serious concern”, adding that such actions are “illegal under international humanitarian law and only serve to fuel tensions on the ground”.
Neighbouring Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1994 and is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, has also condemned Israel’s actions, as has Bahrain, which normalised relations with Israel last year in a US-brokered deal.
“We will not recognise this property as belonging to settlers. We have lived in these homes for over 60 years and we will only leave our homes when we are carried to our graves,” Saleh Diab, a resident of Sheikh Jarrah, told AJ Plus.
Political leaders, activists and social influencers have been voicing their concern and dismay regarding the current situation in Jerusalem, with the hashtag “#SaveSheikhJarrah” trending on social media.
The UN, meanwhile, has said Israel’s forced evictions of Palestinians “are a potential war crime”.
