Violence between Israelis, Palestinians spreads to Gaza; 7 dead

Reporting from Gaza City —  The recent eruption of violence between Israelis and Palestinians saw its highest one-day death toll on Friday as the clashes spread for the first time to the Gaza Strip.

Six Palestinians were killed and 60 injured when Israeli soldiers fired across the border at protesters along the fence dividing the coastal enclave from Israel, Palestinian medical sources said.

According to Israel’s military, about 200 Palestinians gathered at the fence in northern Gaza, throwing rocks and rolling burning tires toward Israeli troops, who fired to halt their advance.

The seventh death came near the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, where a 19-year-old Palestinian, whom police said had stabbed an Israeli policeman, was fatally shot.

Events elsewhere also appeared to reflect the rapidly unraveling situation as the rash of stabbing attacks continued, putting Israelis on edge and causing many to buy pepper spray and other means of self defense, according to local media.

A Jewish teenager was stabbed and slightly injured by a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem, which was relatively calm amid restrictions on Palestinian access to the city’s Al Aqsa mosque, a focal point of the recent clashes. The heavy Israeli police deployment continued and metal detectors were installed at entrances to the Old City.

After days of back-to-back stabbing attacks against Jewish Israelis, anti-Arab sentiment erupted in the southern Israel town of Dimona, where a Jewish teenager stabbed a Bedouin Arab and three Palestinians, reportedly saying that “all Arabs are terrorists.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and warned that those using violence and breaking the law “from whatever side” would be dealt with severely.

The backlash was evident in other places as well, both on the streets and in social media where Jewish and Arab Israelis frequently confront one another during crises. An Israeli television crew with an Arab journalist was assaulted late Thursday in Afula while covering the heated aftermath of a stabbing attack.

Arab citizens of Israel were enraged Friday over the shooting of a Muslim woman in Afula. According to Israeli media, the 30-year-old mother and graduate student from Nazareth tried to stab an Israeli soldier. A video showed her waving a knife while surrounded by several police and soldiers, then being shot, raising questions about the incident.

Lawmaker Yousef Jabareen, an Arab Israeli, called for an investigation of the incident, saying it was “clear as daylight” that the woman did not pose an immediate threat that justified shooting.

“Our blood has become forfeit,” he said in a statement, accusing Netanyahu and his government of responsibility.

Cat-and-mouse clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops continued throughout the West Bank, where hundreds of Palestinians have been reported injured in recent days, mostly from rubber bullets and tear gas but some from live ammunition.

In Ramallah, hundreds attended the funeral of Muhannad Halabi, who was shot to death Saturday after killing two Jewish men in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Special correspondents Rushdi Abu Alouf in Gaza City and Maher Abukahter in Ramallah contributed to this report.