Palestinians, Lebanese and others marched in Beirut in solidarity with Palestinians.
In Turkey, thousands of people gathered outside of the Israeli embassy and its consulate in Istanbul to protest Israel’s actions.
Despite lockdown orders to curb the spread of COVID-19, protestors carried Palestinian flags and chanted “(Turkish soldiers) to Gaza” and “Down with Israel, down with America.” according to the Jerusalem Post.
Hundreds of Kuwaitis have also staged a sit-in outside Parliament voicing support for the Palestinians.
These protests come as military actions escalate in the Gaza Strip. Officials say 28 Palestinians and two Israelis have died during the airstrikes and rockets launched across the Strip.
The leaders of several Muslim nations are coming together as a united front to condemn Israel’s “provocative” attacks on Palestinians following the violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and the planned eviction of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
“What we have witnessed is, clearly and frankly, a provocation by the Israeli occupation, that targeted the holiest Islamic sanctities, at the most sacred time,” Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the head of the Arab League, told the Associated Press.
Hamas said they have the right to respond to “the Israeli offensive and protect the interests of our people as long as the Israeli occupation continues the escalation.”
“The Palestinian resistance will remain the armoured shield of the Palestinian people and will continue to fend off the Israeli aggression at any cost; the Israeli occupation has to make a recalculation and understand the equation well,” Hamas said in a statement.
Over 200 rockets have been fired from Gaza since Hamas gave Israeli forces a deadline to withdraw from Al-Aqsa, the Associated Press reported. The mosque is one of the city’s holiest sites and, like others in the area, hotly disputed between Palestinians and Israel as to who has a claim to them.
Media reports from around Jerusalem said that over 700 people were injured in clashes in and near the city, with 500 of those receiving some sort of treatment at local hospitals.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday that the fighting “could continue for some time,” after rockets were launched toward Jerusalem, setting off warning sirens around the city.
“Whoever attacks us will pay a heavy price,” Netanyahu said at the time.
For more developments on the conflict in Israel, see updates below.
The pair issued a joint statement with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) one day earlier, condemning the Israeli airstrikes while urging the Biden administration to “finally take action to protect Palestinian human rights and save lives.”
Read more here.
“Our fighter jets, with the ISA, neutralized key figures of Hamas’ intelligence: Hassan Kaogi, head of the Hamas military intelligence security department & his deputy Wail Issa, head of the military intelligence counterespionage department,” Israel Defense Forces tweeted. “Looks like our intel was better.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Health updated figures to include 12 children among the at least 35 Palestinians who were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Three people, including one woman and a child, were killed in an Israeli attack on an apartment building, according to a Reuters report citing a Hamas-affiliated radio station.
Israel Defense Forces tweeted that it was continuing to “strike terror targets in Gaza” after hundreds of rockets targeted Israel over 24 hours, adding that it had already hit “a number of significant terror targets and terror operatives” in the area’s biggest conflict since 2014.
The Palestinian death toll rose to at least 35, according to Reuters. Gaza’s health ministry said that at least 10 of those killed were children. Rocket attacks on Israel from Hamas and other militant groups resulted in at least three deaths.
“You might think that America’s politicians would be supportive to Israelis, given the situation. Some have been. But when it comes to the progressive left, the messaging has been astonishing. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who has a history of making anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments, all but tweeted in support of… Hamas,” Schulman wrote.
Read more here.
In Gaza, a 13-story residential building collapsed following an Israeli attack, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, the Tel Aviv sky was set alight and air raid sirens wailed as rockets from Hamas and other militant groups targeted the city.
At least 32 Palestinians have died during hostilities over two days, while three people were killed by rockets targeting Israel. Hundreds more have been wounded.
“We are at the height of a weighty campaign,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a televised address. “Hamas and Islamic Jihad paid … and will pay a very heavy price for their belligerence.”
United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland urged an end to the hostilities, warning that the conflict could become “a full scale war.”
“Stop the fire immediately,” Wennesland tweeted. “We’re escalating towards a full scale war. Leaders on all sides have to take the responsibility of deescalation. The cost of war in Gaza is devastating & is being paid by ordinary people. UN is working w/ all sides to restore calm. Stop the violence now.”
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan “condemned the ongoing rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem and Tel Aviv” during a phone call with Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat, according to a statement from National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne.
Sullivan offered President Joe Biden’s “unwavering support for Israel’s security and for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people” during the call, while he “discussed steps to restore calm over the coming days and agreed to stay in close touch” during a separate call with the government of Egypt.
Netanyahu said Hamas and Islamic Jihad “have paid and will pay a heavy price” for the rockets launched into Israel earlier Tuesday.
He said Israel will continue to intensify operations, but said “it will take time” to complete the mission.
According to the Associated Press, Biden has directed his team to engage intensively with Israeli and Palestinian officials and leaders throughout the Middle East.
Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the focus is de-escalation.
She said Biden supports Israel’s “legitimate right to defend itself and its people” and condemns ongoing “rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups including against Jerusalem.”
She added that the Biden administration “will also continue to support a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.”
“That is the only way to ensure the just and lasting peace that two peoples have struggled to achieve,” Psaki said.
In a press briefing Tuesday, U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the department is “deeply concerned” about “the escalation between Israel and those launching rockets from Gaza” and the loss of innocent life on both sides.
“We call for restraint and for calm,” Price said. “Israel has a right to defend itself and to respond to rocket attacks. The Palestinian people also have the right to safety and security, just as Israelis do.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Israeli Foreign Minister Ashkenazi on Tuesday to condemn the Hamas rocket attacks and “reiterate the important message of de-escalation,” according to Price.
Former President Donald Trump also shared a statement on the conflict between Israel and Gaza.
“When I was in office we were known as the Peace Presidency because Israel’s adversaries knew that the United States stood strongly with Israel and there would be swift retribution if Israel was attacked,” Trump said. “Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because of Biden’s weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies.”
Trump added that “American must always stand with Israel and make clear that the Palestinians must end the violence, terror, and rocket attacks, and make clear that the U.S. will always strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself.”
He also called Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) a “crazed anti-American.”
Omar tweeted earlier Tuesday that “Palestinians deserve protection” and called the Israeli airstrikes against Gaza “an act of terrorism.”
Israeli medics confirmed the death of a 50-year-old woman from the rocket strikes near Tel Aviv.
Israel has also closed the Ben Gurion Airport and flights have been grounded due to the ongoing rocket attacks.
This attack activated Israel’s anti-rocket defense systems and triggered air raid sirens across the city Tuesday night.
Hamas said it launched 130 rockets in retaliation for Israel’s airstrike that demolished a high-rise building in Gaza earlier that evening.
There were no reports of casualties among the residents, who reportedly vacated the tower before it was hit, according to Al Jazeera.
The Israel Defense Forces shared footage of the Iron Dome defense system intercepting the barrage of rockets over Tel Aviv.
The IDF also shared that one of the rockets from Gaza struck a civilian bus in Holon, near Tel Aviv. There are no reports of casualties from the incident at this time.
In a tweet, Iran’s foreign minister Javas Zarif called the attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the killing of worshippers “the greatest evidence of the racist, criminal nature of the usurping entity, which has always been the main cause of insecurity and stability in the region.”
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told an emergency Arab League meeting that he reached out to Israel to ease tensions in Jerusalem.
“In the last few days, Egypt extensively reached out to Israel and other concerned countries urging them to exert all possible efforts to prevent the deterioration of the situation in Jerusalem,” Shoukry said. “But we did not get the necessary response.”
Hundreds of people in Kuwait staged a sit-in protest Tuesday outside of parliament to voice their support for the Palestinians.
Thousands gathered in Lod to mourn the death of Musa Malakh Hassuna, who was allegedly shot by a Jewish Israeli man during a large Arab-Israeli protest in solidarity with Palestinians.
Israeli police have arrested three people suspected of involvement in the shooting.
According to the Associated Press, Israeli police fired tear gas and stun grenades at mourners who threw rocks at officers during the funeral.
Police said two officers were injured and a patrol car was set on fire.
The Gaza Health Ministry said a total of 28 people, including 10 children, were killed and 152 people were wounded after airstrikes Monday. The Israeli military said at least 16 of those killed were militants.
A spokesman for the ministry told the Associated Press that Israel’s “relentless assault” was overwhelming the health care system.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said officials decided to “increase both the strength and rate of the strikes” against Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip after two women were killed in Ashkelon.
Even before those deaths, the Israeli defense minister ordered the mobilization of 5,000 reserve soldiers to the Gaza border.
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barthoum said it is prepared to continue its defense against Israeli aggressions.
“As long as the Israeli occupation continues to perpetrate crimes and violations against the Palestinian people, the Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas, will respond and defend Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Gaza Strip,” Barhoum said.
The aerial video shows the moment IDF and Israel Security Agency carried out the strike on Islamic Jihad commander Samah Adbed al-Mamluk and other senior members of his unit.
This attack comes after the IDF said it attacked over 130 military targets in the strip and has killed 15 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants involved in firing or transporting rockets and missiles.
IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israeli forces will continue to act “until Hamas gets the message that this type of attack on Israel is not acceptable and they will be held accountable for their aggression.”
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation held an emergency meeting on Tuesday in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia to present a unified response from the Muslim world to the intensifying conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The meeting of the 57-member group denounced Israel’s “continuous violations” of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, “barbaric attacks” against worshippers and movement restrictions on Palestinians at the compound. It called Isreal’s action a “serious violation of international law,” according to the Associated Press.
It also called on the international community to hold Isreal responsible for the escalation and to pressure it to stop the attacks that threaten “the security and stability of the region.”
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Malaysia’s king and the leaders of Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan.
Erdogan strongly denounced Israel’s attacks against Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has also directed his foreign minister to discuss a collective response to Isreal’s actions with his Turkish and Sudi counterparts.
According to the Jerusalem Post, one woman killed was in her 80s and the other was in her 60s. Of those injured on Tuesday, five were children, 26 were in light condition, 13 were suffering from anxiety, one person was moderately injured and two other people were seriously injured.
Hamas took responsibility for the rocket fire, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“Al-Qassam Brigades directed the largest missile strike so far on the occupied cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon, in response to the enemy’s continued targeting of houses and resistance men, and the next is greater, God willing.”
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) spokesman Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman told the Jerusalem Post that the military is prepared to respond to whatever escalation occurs over the next several days.
“We will continue to act vigorously against Hamas and other terror organizations,” Zilberman said.
He added that Hamas is responsible for “what is happening and will bear the consequences.”
IDF Front Command ordered local councils within a 40-kilometer radius of the Gaza Strip shut down schools and banned large public gatherings Tuesday.
Home Front Command also asked Ashkelon residents to remain in bomb shelters until further notice.
Other cities, including Tel Aviv, Givatayim, Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak, announced they have opened bomb shelters late Monday night.
The Jerusalem Post said Tel Aviv told people to not enter the bomb shelters unless there was an active order to do so. If a siren sounded, the city said, all residents should enter the bomb shelter closest to them.
