Israel said it would close its only crossing from the Gaza Strip for workers today in response to overnight rocket fire, stopping short of conducting retaliatory strikes in an apparent bid to ease tensions.
The rocket attacks on Friday night and yesterday morning followed days of clashes at Jerusalem’s flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound and a month of violence.
The unrest — which comes as the Jewish festival of Passover overlaps with the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan — has sparked international fears of conflict, one year after similar violence led to an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza-based militants.
Photo: Reuters
“Following the rockets fired toward Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip last night, it was decided that crossings into Israel for Gazan merchants and workers through the Erez Crossing will not be permitted this upcoming Sunday,” COGAT, a unit of the Israeli Ministry of Defense responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said in a statement yesterday.
Two rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel on Friday night, one of them hitting the Jewish state and the other falling short and striking near a residential building in northern Gaza, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
A third rocket was fired at Israel yesterday morning, the army said, with no air-raid sirens activated for any of the launches.
They followed rocket attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, and came as Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters at al-Aqsa mosque, leaving at least one man hospitalized in serious condition.
Israel had retaliated against those attacks with airstrikes, but in an apparent desire to prevent further violence, shifted its response this time to the painful economic measure of closing Erez, implying that further rockets would extend the penalty.
“The reopening of the crossing will be decided in accordance with a security situational assessment,” COGAT said in its statement.
More than 200 people, mostly Palestinians, have been hurt in clashes in and around al-Aqsa in the past week.
Palestinians have been outraged by massive Israeli police deployment and repeated visits by Jews to the holy site.
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