Thousands protest President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Israeli forces kill at least one and critically wound another. Hundreds more are wounded by live fire, rubber bullets, and tear gas.
By +972 Magazine
A wounded Palestinian is carried on a stretcher during clashes with Israeli security forces on the Israeli-Gaza border, Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, December 8, 2017. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
Israeli forces killed at least one Palestinian and wounded hundreds of others in clashes across the occupied territories on Friday. There were no reports of Israeli injuries at the time of writing.
Mahmoud Al-Masri, 30, was killed in clashes on the border area of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip during a demonstration in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. A second man, also wounded by IDF fire in Gaza, was in critical condition. The Israeli military said in a statement that soldiers had “fired selectively at two main instigators” of the “violent riots.”
Several thousand Palestinian demonstrated in the West Bank and Gaza, including in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Rafah, Hebron, Khan Younis, Jabaliya, and Nablus, after Palestinian factions called for a “Day of Rage.” Dozens were arrested by Israeli security forces, as protestors threw Molotov cocktails and rocks, while burning Israeli and U.S. flags, and stomping on posters of the U.S. president.
Palestinians burn a photo of U.S. President Donald Trump during a protest against the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Rafah, Gaza Strip, December 8, 2017. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
In Jerusalem, clashes broke out between Palestinian worshippers at Damascus Gate, after tens of thousands attended Friday noon prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Protests were also held in the Israeli cities of Umm al-Fahm, Kalansaua and Kafr Kana. One man was arrested on suspicion of throwing rocks in the city of Nazareth, where a protest was also held, according to Haaretz.
Meanwhile on Friday, Palestinian militants fired three rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Friday night. The first rocket was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. A short while later a second rocket launch was identified, however it is not currently known where the rocket landed, while the third rocket exploded in the southern Israeli city of Sderot.
Israeli Police arrest a Palestinian protester at Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, December 8, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
In retaliation, the Israeli Air Force reportedly attacked a Hamas training compound and arms warehouse in Gaza, wounding 25, including children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war – the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and the massive retaliatory Israeli attacks on Gaza. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed unleashed by these events has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Hamas’ murderous assault in southern Israel has devastated and shocked the country to its core. Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza is wreaking destruction on the already besieged strip and killing a ballooning number of civilians. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to escalate their attacks on Palestinians.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 13 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, the entrenched occupation, and an increasingly normalized siege on Gaza.
We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.
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