The Israeli-Hamas ceasefire agreement is fragile and the situation in Jerusalem is tense

The Israeli-Hamas ceasefire agreement is fragile and the situation in Jerusalem is tense

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The Islamic Authority monitoring the scene said Israeli police escorted more than 250 Jewish tourists to a gleaming holy site in Jerusalem on Sunday, where clashes between police and Palestinian protesters fueled the war in Gaza.

The United Nations said that the 11-day conflict between Israel and the radical Hamas rulers in Gaza was suspended last Friday, but huge ruins were left in the Gaza Strip, including hundreds of houses completely destroyed, and More houses are severely damaged in the country.

The Islamic religious organization Isq Waqf, which oversaw the scene, said that while tensions were still high, the police expelled young Palestinians from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and prohibited Muslims under 45 from entering. Muslims who entered were required to hand over their ID to the police at the entrance. It stated that six Palestinians were detained and four were later released.

The Israeli police denied that there was an age limit and said they had arrested five people who “violated public order.” Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the site has been opened for “regular visits” and the police have protected the area.

The visit then ended without any other incidents.

Watch | The reasons behind the recent violence in the Middle East are:

Look at the long-standing tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the recent escalation. 4:50

The Israeli police clashed briefly with Palestinian demonstrators after Friday’s prayers. This was an early test of the ceasefire, which took effect several hours ago. The ceasefire in Gaza is maintained, but the violence in Jerusalem may trigger another round of escalation.

Waqf said Sunday was the first time Jews were allowed to visit the site since the week before the outbreak of the war on May 4.

Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Aqsa Mosque) is part of the Holy Land in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is highly respected by Muslims and Jews. Over the years, the site has often been the scene of Israeli-Palestinian violence and was the center of the 2000 Palestinian uprising or uprising.

Until May 10, Israeli police clashed with Palestinian demonstrators at the scene several times, when Hamas fired long-range rockets into Jerusalem, saying they were protecting the city after a skirmish. Another major cause of the war was that Jewish settlers threatened to expel dozens of Palestinian families from nearby Sheikh Jarrah.

In recent years, more and more religious and nationalist Jews have visited the site. The Palestinians worry that Israel plans to eventually take over or divide the compound. The Israeli government has repeatedly stated that it has no intention of changing the status quo because Waqf is supervising the site under the custody of Jordan.

Now focus on the humanitarian situation

The recent war has caused Israel to launch hundreds of air strikes on Gaza, which is what Israel calls a militant target. Hamas and other armed groups fired more than 4,000 rockets into Israel, most of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system or landed in open areas. At least 243 Palestinians were killed, as were 12 Israelis.

US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken will travel to the Middle East this week.He told ABC News This week with George Stephanopoulos (George Stephanopoulos) On Sunday, the ceasefire provided an opportunity “to provide momentum for building more aggressive goals.”

Brinken said that the priorities include resolving the immediate humanitarian situation in Gaza, rebuilding everything lost in the violence, and “allowing both parties to start working to truly improve people’s lives so that Israelis and Palestinians can enjoy equal security measures, peace and dignity.”

On Sunday, in the recent violent inter-ethnic conflict between Arabs and Jewish Israelis in Rhodes, Israel, people stood in a house that was damaged by fire. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images)

The Israeli strike razed many large buildings in impoverished coastal areas, where there are more than 2 million Palestinians. Since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power from forces loyal to the internationally supported Palestinian Authority in 2007, Gaza has been under a severe Israeli-Egypt blockade.

Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian affairs coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said that 300 buildings in Gaza (including an estimated 1,000 houses) have been completely destroyed. She said that hundreds of people were severely damaged. She warned that these are “very, very preliminary figures” because the damage is still being assessed.

Hastings said that a total of six hospitals and eleven primary health care centers were damaged, and one hospital was unable to function due to lack of electricity. She said that due to the destruction of local infrastructure, about 800,000 people did not have access to tap water, while 400,000 people did not receive proper sewage treatment.

Watches | The degree of “huge” destruction in Gaza:

As Palestinians across the region celebrated the ceasefire declaration between Israel and Hamas, Margaret Evans of CBC was reporting from Gaza. She said that the aerial battle between the two parties prevented the people of Gaza from properly mourning the dead. This also caused huge damage to the ground. 5:30

Israel stated that it has done everything possible to avoid harm to civilians and only targeted the militant infrastructure, including a huge network of tunnels and rocket launchers. It blamed the war and its destruction on Hamas.

Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News Sunday Israel has imposed a “heavy blow” on Hamas and hopes that this will act as a deterrent. But he also expressed the hope that the truce would continue, and pointed out that “there have been more than five years of relative peace and quiet” after the last round of fighting in 2014.

On Sunday morning, hundreds of municipal workers and volunteers launched a week-long campaign to remove rubble from the streets of Gaza. The work started outside a high-rise building. In the early days of the Gaza air strike, Israeli warplanes razed it to the ground, and workers loaded the gravel into donkey carts and small pickup trucks.

The ICRC said on Friday that the war may have left hundreds of unexploded ordnance, which could cause more casualties and hinder reconstruction efforts.

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