Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman visits Gaza's Kerem Shalom crossing
Israel will open the Kerem Shalom border crossing – Gaza’s only commercial crossing – on Tuesday, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday.
In a statement, Lieberman said the border terminal will be reopened if the Gaza border remains calm.
"If today and tomorrow the situation continues as it was yesterday, then on Tuesday we will allow Kerem Shalom to return to normal activity, and the fishing zones will return to the same distances as before," he said.
"The key is quiet, calm, zero firebombs, zero friction on the fence and zero rockets or, God forbid, shooting,” Lieberman said.
Jordan said Sunday it has protested Israeli violations at East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa complex as hundreds of Jewish settlers forced their way into the flashpoint site.In a statement, government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat said the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv has lodged a formal diplomatic protest with the Israeli Foreign Ministry over Israeli violations at Al-Aqsa compound.“Such condemned and rejected practices…violate the sanctity of this holy site and provoke the sentiments of worshippers and Muslims all over the world,” she said in the statement cited by the official Petra news agency.Ghunaimat said the Israeli practices at Al-Aqsa “were in violation of Israel’s obligations as an occupying force under international law”, going on to call on Tel Aviv to “immediately halt” the practice.Earlier Sunday, more than 1,000 Israeli settlers forced their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under the protection of Israeli police.Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Firas al-Dibis, an official with Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Religious Endowments Authority, said Israeli police stormed the compound before the settlers and carried out protective sweeps and search.The move came days after Knesset (Israel’s parliament) passed a controversial law that recognizes Israel as the “nation-state of the Jewish people”.For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the Jewish state -- a move never recognized by the international community.Over 1,000 Jewish settlers converge on Al-Aqsa complexIsraeli Druze to challenge ‘Jewish-state’ law
Jordan protests Israeli ‘violations’ at Al-Aqsa
More than 1,000 Israeli settlers on Sunday forced their way into East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, according to a Palestinian official.Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Firas al-Dibis, an official with Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Religious Endowments Authority, said Israeli police stormed the compound before the settlers and carried out protective sweeps and search.According to al-Dibis, Israeli forces denied access to Najeh Bakirat, a scholar at the Endowments Authority, and allowed Muslim worshippers inside the mosque after seizing their IDs.On Thursday, Knesset (Israel’s parliament) passed a controversial law that recognizes Israel as the “nation-state of the Jewish people”.For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the Jewish state -- a move never recognized by the international community.
Over 1,000 Jewish settlers converge on Al-Aqsa complex
On July 9, Israel closed the crossing to all goods except food and medicine. And on July 16, Israel reduced the fishing area to six maritime miles as part of a raft of sanctions imposed by Tel Aviv on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for incendiary kite and balloon attacks by Palestinian activists near the Gaza-Israel security fence.
On Friday, Israel and Palestinian resistance factions reached a cease-fire deal following an escalation in the blockaded Palestinian territory.
Since March, more than 140 Palestinians have been martyred – and thousands more injured – by Israeli army fire during protests against the decades-long Israeli occupation and an 11-year blockade, which has gutted the coastal territory’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of basic commodities.
Palestinian relatives carry the body of 27-year-old Mohammed Badwan during his funeral in Gaza City on July 21, 2018. Palestinian martyr Mohammed Badwan was buried on Saturday wrapped in the Turkish flag as he always desired.
Palestinian martyr buried wrapped in Turkish flag