Ramallah: Around 50,000 Palestinians peacefully offered the first Ramadan prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque amid tightened Israeli security procedures in the wake of violence in Tel Aviv on Thursday, in which two Israelis were killed.
According to Israeli medical sources, four of the 15 injured in the attack are in critical condition.
Thousands of Israeli citizens and Palestinians from the West Bank gathered in the mosque early in the morning after passing through Israeli military posts at the entrance to Jerusalem.
About 3,000 Israeli policemen were stationed at gates leading to East Jerusalem, the old city and the mosque. No untoward incident happened.
Al-Aqsa’s Imam Ikrima Sabri praised worshipers coming to the mosque from far and wide in front of Israeli checkpoints and urged Muslims to pray regularly in Al-Aqsa with a special emphasis on Taraweeh prayers at night .
Ibrahim al-Anbawi, 53, of the Anata refugee camp near Jerusalem, told Arab News that the prayer took place “quietly and without tension”. He said the number of worshipers was small because of Thursday’s attack in Tel Aviv and fears of consequences.
Al-Ambawi, who offers Friday prayers in Al-Aqsa every week, said the sermon was limited to religiosity, without any reference to the current political situation in order to avoid inciting sentiments.
Meanwhile, the Tel Aviv shootings in which a Palestinian gunman shot and killed two people at once continues to cast a shadow on life in both the West Bank and Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack and stressed the dangers of “repeated incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the continuation of the provocative actions of extremist settler groups”.
However, the attack was praised by many Palestinian factions and the majority of the public.
Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said officials found the shooter hiding near a mosque in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv. The agency said the attacker was killed during the shootout.
Rad Hazem, 29, a son of a retired Palestinian security officer, was from the Genin refugee camp in the north of the West Bank.
A high-ranking Palestinian security official, who preferred anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told Arab News that the recent attacks in Israel constituted a “significant shift” in which the attackers Switched from knives to guns, “which causes more victims and spreads a state of terror in the streets of Israel.”
He said the attacks “reflect a state of anger in the hearts of Palestinians against Israeli oppression and the absence of any political or economic horizon.”
Palestinian factions said the Tel Aviv attack represented a natural response to “Israeli’s crimes of occupation and the continuation of its violations in occupied Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
In less than a month, 13 Israelis have been killed and more than 20 wounded in four Palestinian attacks.
Israeli Channel 12 said the demand for psychological help in the country has increased tenfold in the past two weeks following the Beersheba and Tel Aviv attacks.
Condemning the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said: “Our fight against deadly terrorism is long and difficult, but we will win it.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said: “Together we will fight terrorism, attacking resistance fighters wherever they hide, finding their senders and allies anywhere, and not resting until the streets are quiet.”
In contrast, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz said: “We will expand our operations against the wave of attacks. The price we charge the perpetrators of the attacks and their senders will be enormous.”
Gantz said Israel arrested 200 Palestinians, and “if necessary, we will arrest thousands.”
Abbas said the killings of Palestinian and Israeli civilians “only worsen the situation, as we all strive to achieve stability, especially during the holy month of Ramadan and the upcoming Christian and Jewish holidays.”
Abbas warned against “exploiting this reprehensible incident to launch attacks against our Palestinian people”.
He stressed the danger of “continued and repeated incursions into al-Aqsa and the provocative actions of extremist settler groups everywhere.”
He said the cycle of violence reaffirms that “lasting, comprehensive and just peace is the shortest and right way to provide security and stability for Palestinians, Israelis and the people of the region.”
Gantz praised Abbas’s condemnation of the attack.