Israeli warplanes rained down missiles on Gaza overnight in retaliation for rockets shot into Israel from terrorists in the coastal enclave.
Targets included two weapons manufacturing sites, a military compound and an arsenal. Reports in Gaza said that 15 people were injured in the strikes, including a six-month-old boy.
Gaza’s health ministry reported that two were killed, both at the Hamas facility at Nusseirat in central Gaza.
One of the Palestinian rockets fell short, the second was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system, and one landed in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, damaging property but causing no casualties.
Israeli warplanes rained down missiles on Gaza overnight in retaliation for rockets shot into Israel from terrorists in the coastal enclave. Pictured: A Palestinian protester pushes a tire onto a fire barricade as they clashed with Israeli border guards
A masked Palestinian woman gestures during clashes with Israeli troops at an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Ramallah after Friday prayers today. Protests have taken place around the world against Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
Israeli civilians in the south of the country were forced to run for cover as air raid sirens blared for the first time since the unrest began.
Today hundreds of Palestinian protestors are marching from the town of Khan Younis, in Gaza, towards the Israeli border fence, with ambulances standing by in anticipation of casualties.
It comes as Israel prepares for a second wave of violent protests this morning after Hamas has called for an intensification of the conflict.
Israeli army reinforcements have been deployed in significant numbers to the settlements on the West Bank in an attempt to defend against possible terror attacks on the Jewish outposts.
This was the scene in Bethlehem yesterday as Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops on the second day of unrest in the town
Flashpoint: Israeli forces used power jets to control and disperse crowds in Bethlehem following Friday prayers this morning
The army put the overall number of demonstrators during yesterday’s ‘day of rage’ at 5,000, which was lower than feared, but emphasised that clashes may continue for several days.
Commanders are due to meet tonight to review the situation on the ground and make a decision about troop numbers in the coming days.
Yesterday two Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded during about 30 violent protests in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The clashes were less intense than had been feared, however, and appeared to fall well short of another intifada, or Palestinian uprising.
The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, called for mass violence against Israelis until the Jewish State was destroyed, saying: ‘We will stick to the strategic plan until we reach the final point, the liberation of Jerusalem and all the land of Palestine.’
Kashmiri Shitte Muslims burnt an effigy of Donald Trump as they marched through the streets of Srinagar this morning
Furious campaigners are pictured torching a US flag during protests in Kabul, Afghanistan after Friday prayers this morning
A protester jumps over the burning effigy of US President Donald Trump during an anti-US and Israeli protest in Peshawar, Pakistan, today
Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces in Jerusalem (pictured) today while there were also confrontations in the West Bank cities of Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah in the wake of Donald Trump’s new stance on Jerusalem
Two Palestinians were killed in Gaza and hundreds were injured, the majority suffering from tear gas inhalation. Eleven were wounded by live fire.
The Israeli official in charge of Palestinian areas wrote a Facebook post in Arabic appealing for calm. ‘Extremists want to ferment the street with lies and distortions because this is a religious war,’ Major General Yoav Mordechai wrote. ‘I urge you not to let the extremists destroy the Christmas holidays… Israel preserves access to the holy sites for all, and anybody who says otherwise is a liar’.
Israeli officials continued to praise Mr Trump’s move to recognise Jerusalem as its capital, however, with the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, calling it ‘the date that the President of the free world stood on the side of truth’.
Mr Berkat, who is famous for neutralising a knife-wielding terrorist on the streets of Jerusalem with his bare hands in 2015, praised ‘leaders who will do what is right in spite of threats and incitement from the region’.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, praised the vociferous condemnation of Mr Trump’s decision by the international community. ‘The United States of America is no longer qualified to act as a broker and mediator of the peace process,’ he said.
‘Jerusalem!’ Trump was cheered as he entered the East Room and when he started a speech Thursday, said ‘there were a lot of very happy people’ before saying ‘Jerusalem’
Dina Powell, a veteran Middle East expert who has been a key part of Mr Trump’s Israel-Palestine team, dramatically resigned, though she did state that she was leaving ‘on good terms’.
Ms Powell, who speaks fluent Arabic, was previously an adviser to Jared Kushner and worked in the State Department under George W Bush, focussing on relations with Arab countries.
The international diplomatic community continued to make sense of Mr Trump’s unprecedented move to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
The United Nations Security Council met yesterday at the request of eight of its 15 members, including Britain and France, declaring that ‘the status of Jerusalem must be determined through negotiations’.
Britain urged the US to put forward a detailed roadmap for peace between the two sides.
However, America’s envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, said the UN has done more harm than good to peace in the middle east. ‘Israel will never be, and should never be, bullied into an agreement by the United Nations,’ she said.
The Israeli envoy emphasised that there could never be peace without Jerusalem being recognised as the capital of the Jewish State.
The Czech Republic, which had mustered a level of support for Mr Trump’s position by saying it would recognise west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, appeared to climb down from this position.
The EU’s foreign policy representative Federica Mogherini said that the Czech foreign minister had pledged to support the EU’s policy of reserving such recognition until a peace agreement was achieved.
So far, only the Philippines has joined the United States in vowing to move its embassy to the disputed city, though Israeli diplomatic pressure is being applied to its allies – mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America – to follow suit.
South Africa is considering downgrading its embassy in Israel to a ‘liaison office’ in protest against ‘the lack of commitment from Israel to finding a resolution to the Palestinian question’, though that country’s Jewish and Christian communities are campaigning against the move.
An Israeli cabinet minister said that Mr Trump’s statement clearly left open a route to partition Jerusalem, a proposal that would be vehemently opposed by Israel.
Zeev Elkin, Jerusalem Affairs Minister, said: ‘He hinted that borders in Jerusalem will also be set as a result of negotiations, which presupposes an option of partition.’
The world-wide Jewish community remained split on the issue. In a statement, the Reform movement said, ‘we cannot support his decision to begin preparing that move now, absent a comprehensive plan for a peace process’, a position that Israel’s consul in New York, Dani Dayan, called ‘deeply frustrating and disappointing’.