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Israel mobilises army reserves after attacks in Tel Aviv, West Bank

Pair of attacks in Tel Aviv and occupied West Bank leave three people dead and seven wounded as violence in volatile Mideast region, that began after Israeli troops twice stormed Al Aqsa Mosque, refuses to ebb.

Reuters

Israeli medics and policemen check a damaged car at the scene of a shooting attack, in the Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

At least three people have been killed and seven others wounded in a pair of attacks in Tel Aviv and occupied West Bank as tensions soared after back-to-back Israeli incursions into Al Aqsa Mosque, rocket fire and Israeli bombardment of besieged Gaza and southern Lebanon, sparking fears of a broader conflict.

Israeli authorities said on Friday at least one person was killed and six were wounded when a car rammed into four people in Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub. In a separate incident, two Israeli women were shot to death near an illegal Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was calling up all reserve forces in Israel's border police "to confront the terror attacks."

Israel had unleashed rare air strikes on Lebanon and bombarded the Gaza on Friday morning, but later in the day there were signs that both sides were trying to keep the hostilities in check. Fighting on Israel's northern and southern borders subsided after dawn, and midday prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem passed peacefully.

The violence erupted after Israeli police stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque earlier in the week, sparking unrest in the region and outrage across the Arab world.

In the Tel Aviv car attack on Friday, the driver rammed into a group of people near a popular seaside park, police said. Israel's rescue service said a 30-year-old Italian man was killed, while four other people were receiving medical treatment for mild to moderate injuries.

Police said they shot the driver of the car. The driver's condition was uncertain, but social media videos show a body on the ground beside an overturned car while gunshots ring out.

The West Bank shooting killed two sisters in their 20s and seriously wounded their 45-year-old mother near an illegal Israeli settlement in the Jordan Valley, Israeli officials said. The women killed were British citizens, the Foreign Office said. The family lived in the Efrat illegal settlement, near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, said Oded Revivi, the settlement's mayor.

Medics said they dragged the unconscious women from their smashed car, which appeared to have been pushed off the road.

No groups claimed responsibility for either attack.

The United States voiced solidarity with ally Israel.

"The targeting of innocent civilians of any nationality is unconscionable. The United States stands with the government and people of Israel," State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said.

Meanwhile, two Palestinians were wounded when Israeli soldiers opened fire during a raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Palestine's Ministry of Health said.

The Palestinians shot with live rounds were taken to Jenin State Hospital for treatment, it said.

Witnesses told Anadolu Agency that Israeli military vehicles raided Burkin and clashes broke out between residents, armed Palestinians and Israeli forces.

At least one person killed and several injured in a shooting attack in Tel Aviv, while another man attempted to ram into pedestrians before his car overturned pic.twitter.com/QvJE5zdCm7
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) April 7, 2023

West Bank remains volatile

There were no reports of serious casualties from the Israeli air strikes, but several people in the southern Lebanese town of Qalili, including Syrian refugees, said they were lightly wounded.

"I immediately gathered my wife and children and got them out of the house," said Qalili resident Bilal Suleiman, who was jolted awake by the bombing.

A flock of sheep was killed when the Israeli missiles struck a field near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh, according to an Associated Press photographer. Other air strikes hit a bridge and a power transformer in nearby Maaliya, and damaged an irrigation system.

In the Gaza, Israel's military pounded several areas. A children's hospital in main Gaza City was among sites sustaining damage, according to the Palestine's Health Ministry.

The current round of violence began on Wednesday after Israeli police twice stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque — in one case fiercely beating Palestinians, who responded by hurling rocks and firecrackers. That led on Thursday to rocket fire from Gaza and, in an unusual escalation, the barrage from southern Lebanon and the Israeli air strikes.

Even as a fragile calm took hold along the Lebanese and Gaza frontiers, the occupied West Bank remained volatile. Violence has surged to new heights in recent months, with Palestinian health officials reporting the start of 2023 to be the most deadly for Palestinians in two decades.

More than 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year. During that time, 16 people have been killed in attacks on Israelis — all but one of them civilians.

Violence emanating from decades of Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands has intensified since the new government of veteran PM Netanyahu took power in December, a coalition with extreme right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It vacated from Gaza in 2005 and has since imposed a harsh blockade from land, air and sea on the tiny Palestinian enclave.

Over 700,000 illegal Israeli settlers now live in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies