Church Leaders Fear For Jerusalem As Death Toll Rises In Battles
by Stefan Bos, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Church leaders have expressed concern about the future of Jerusalem and its neighborhood as several people were killed Tuesday in nearly non-stop Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
Among the victims were three women in Israel killed by rockets fired by Palestinian militants, and dozens of people were wounded in these attacks, authorities said.
In response to Palestinian rockets raining down on the Jewish state, Israel stepped up its attacks on the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip. Israel’s army flattened a high-rise building used by the Palestinian Hamas militant group killing at least three militants in their hideouts, officials said.
The death toll in Gaza rose to 32 Palestinians, including ten children, according to the Health Ministry there. Over 200 people were reportedly wounded. The reported figures could not be verified independently, but it was the heaviest fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces since 2014.
And in another sign of broadening unrest, violent demonstrations erupted in Arab communities across Israel, where protesters set dozens of vehicles on fire in confrontations with police.
The fighting between Israel and Hamas was the most intense since a 50-day war in the summer of 2014. In just over 24 hours, the current round of violence, sparked by religious tensions in the contested city of Jerusalem, increasingly resembled that devastating war.
The latest round in the ongoing conflict began escalating Monday after Palestinian militants began firing rockets towards Jerusalem. In response, the Israeli military launched airstrikes against Palestinian militant targets such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
HAMAS ATTACKS
Hamas said it launched the rockets because Israel didn’t meet its demand that Israeli forces stand down in the al Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third most sacred site.
On Monday, violence erupted there between Palestinian and Israeli forces injuring hundreds of Palestinian protesters and dozens of Israeli police, authorities on both sides said.
The bloodshed happened while Israel celebrated “Jerusalem Day” Monday, marking its capture of eastern sections of Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Palestinians have also expressed anger about the alleged threatened eviction of families from their homes in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers.
As the conflict rapidly deteriorated, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches of Jerusalem urged believers to “continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”
They warned that the “growing tension, backed mainly by right-wing radical groups, endangers the already fragile reality in and around Jerusalem.”
CHURCHES CONCERNED
The cooperating church leaders urged the “International Community and all people of goodwill to intervene in order to put an end to these provocative actions.”
They noted that the conflict escalated following violence around Jerusalem’s main religious sites.
Violence at the “Al Aqsa Mosque or in Sheikh Jarrah, violate the sanctity of the people of Jerusalem and Jerusalem as the City of Peace,” the church leaders stressed.
However, they also lashed out at Israel, saying, “actions undermining the safety of worshipers and the dignity of the Palestinians who are subject to eviction are unacceptable.”
However, there were no signs Tuesday that a fragile peace would return quickly to the troubled region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to expand the offensive. His words came while Gaza militants unleashed a fierce late-night barrage of rockets that set off air-raid sirens. Explosions were also heard throughout the densely populated Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
DOZENS KILLED
In a nationally televised address, Netanyahu said that Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant groups “have paid, and I tell you here, will pay a heavy price for their aggression.”
He claimed that Israel had killed dozens of militants and inflicted heavy damage on hundreds of targets. “This campaign will take time,” he acknowledged. “With determination, unity, and strength, we will restore security to the citizens of Israel.”
He stood alongside Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a political rival, in a show of unity, commentators noted. “There are lots of targets lined up. This is only the beginning,” Gantz added.
The military said it was activating some 5,000 reservists and sending troop reinforcements to the Gaza border.
The current violence also coincided with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a time of heightened religious tensions.
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