Region

RIYADH - Muslims around the world marked a sombre Eid al-Fitr on Thursday amid rising hostilities between Israel and Palestinians, in the second celebration in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.

The three-day festival, which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, is traditionally celebrated with mosque prayers, family feasts and shopping for new clothes, gifts and sweets.

But casting a pall on the festival, already subdued due to the raging pandemic, was deadly violence between Israel and Palestinians, with fears growing that it could spiral into full-blown conflict.

Tensions have soared over Israel's planned eviction of Palestinians from a district in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel on Thursday scrambled to quell riots between Arabs and Jews on its own streets after days of exchanging deadly fire with Palestinian militants in Gaza.

In Gaza, 83 people have been killed so far -- including 17 children -- and more than 480 wounded in days of relentless Israeli air strikes on the crowded coastal enclave.

Echoing the mood in much of the Muslim world, Saudi Arabia's King Salman voiced scathing criticism of Israel in a phone call on Wednesday with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on the occasion of Eid.

The king "stressed Saudi Arabia's strong condemnation of the Israeli measures in Jerusalem and the acts of violence carried out by Israel... [and] affirmed that the kingdom stands by the Palestinian people," the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Prayers and hope

State media broadcast images of King Salman, 85, performing Eid prayers in the planned megacity of NEOM in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

Mask-clad worshippers entered the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca along socially distanced paths to pray before the Kaaba -- a cube-shaped structure sacred to Muslims.

The scene was in contrast to Eid last year, when mosques in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites, were largely devoid of worshippers and sermons were banned due to strict coronavirus curbs.

The Prophet's Mosque in the holy city of Medina separately announced its "complete readiness" to receive worshippers for Eid prayers, state media reported.

In Afghanistan, a three-day Eid ceasefire agreed by the warring Taliban and government came into force, offering a glimmer of hope to war-weary Afghans after weeks of deadly violence.

Fighting has intensified since the United States missed a May 1 deadline, agreed with the Taliban last year, to withdraw all of its troops.

"I feel so relaxed and peaceful today because it is Eid and there is no fighting," said Mirajuddin, who was visiting Kabul zoo with his five children, all dressed in new clothes.

In Iran, where the holiday starts later this week, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was due to pardon or commute the jail sentences of more than 2,000 convicted prisoners for Eid, according to his website.

In Morocco, an overnight curfew imposed as part of measures to battle Covid-19 was kept in place and the final prayers of Ramadan were banned to prevent overcrowding.

Family gatherings were prohibited and mosques closed in Tunisia as part of a week-long partial lockdown that started on Sunday.

And tragedy befell Bangladesh, where five people died Wednesday on an overcrowded ferry carrying more than a thousand passengers, officials said.

The South Asian nation has seen a dangerous rush of people in recent days as they defy a coronavirus lockdown to head home for Eid.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israel deployed additional troops to Gaza's border Thursday as the military conflict with Palestinian factions raged on, while inside Israel security forces scrambled to contain deadly riots between Jews and Arabs.

Army tanks shelled the Palestinian enclave and AFP reporters saw troops assembling at the security barrier.

"We are prepared, and continue to prepare for various scenarios," army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said, describing a ground offensive as "one scenario".

With the Gaza conflict showing no signs of easing, Israel has been rocked by an unprecedented wave of mob violence, in which both Arabs and Jews have been savagely beaten and police stations attacked.

Defence Minister Benny Gantz ordered a "massive reinforcement" to suppress the internal unrest.

Despite global alarm and diplomatic efforts to de-escalate Gaza hostilities, which US President Joe Biden said he hoped would end "sooner than later", hundreds of rockets again tore through the skies.

The fourth day of heavy bombardments coincided with the start of Eid Al Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, and saw the faithful pray at mosques and amid the rubble of Gaza's collapsed buildings.

Israel's air force launched multiple air strikes, targeting locations linked to Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza.

In Gaza, 87 people were reported killed since Monday -- including 18 children -- and more than 530 people wounded, with heavy bombardment rocking the crowded coastal strip, bringing down entire tower blocks.

Inside Israel, seven people have been killed since Monday, including one six-year-old, after a rocket struck a family home.

The Israeli military said it had hit targets in Gaza more than 600 times and that around 90 percent of the 1,750 rockets fired from the enclave had been intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence system.

'Preventing pogroms'

The military escalation was triggered by weekend unrest at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque compound, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

The disturbances, in which riot police had repeatedly clashed with Palestinians, has been driven by anger over the looming evictions of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.

On Wednesday night, Israeli far-right groups took to the streets across the country, clashing with security forces and Arab Israelis.

Joanna Sassin, 45, surveyed the shattered glass outside her family's ice cream shop in Bat Yam, as she recalled the store being targeted by anti-Arab violence two decades ago.

She had hoped such hostility was confined to history but said, "Sadly, I was mistaken."

A state of emergency has been declared with entry restrictions and a curfew in the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod, where an Arab resident was shot dead and a synagogue torched.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with UN chief Antonio Guterres, where Moscow said it was stated that the "primary task" was "to stop violent actions on both sides".

The UN Security Council, which has held two closed-door videoconferences since Monday, was due to meet Friday to discuss the crisis.

But diplomats said that close Israeli ally Washington had blocked the urgent meeting.

Netanyahu spoke late Wednesday with Biden, who said "Israel has a right to defend itself".

Amid the rocket fire, Israel's civil aviation authority said it had diverted all incoming passenger flights headed for Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport to Ramon airport in the south.

Hamas announced it had also fired a rocket at Ramon, in a bid to stop all air traffic to Israel.

Israeli media said the rocket missed its target, but a number of international airlines cancelled flights amid the aerial onslaught.

Hamas also said it had launched drones packed with explosives.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Footage of a far-right Israeli mob attacking a man near Tel Aviv they believed to be an Arab was aired live on television Wednesday night, as the Israel-Palestinian conflict raged on.

The shocking images show a man being forcibly removed from his car and beaten by a crowd of dozens until he lost consciousness.

The attack, broadcast by public broadcaster Kan, took place on the seafront promenade of Bat Yam, south of Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv.

Police and emergency services did not arrive on the scene until 15 minutes later, while the victim lay motionless on his back in the middle of the street.

Those in the crowd justified the attack by saying the man was an Arab who had tried to ram the far-right nationalists, but the footage shows a motorist trying to avoid the demonstration.

"The victim of the lynching is seriously injured but stable," Tel Aviv's Ichilov hospital said in a statement, without revealing his identity.



Issawi Fredj, an Arab deputy from the left-wing Meretz party, said the images were a sign that the country was heading towards "civil war".

Demonstrations by far-right activists broke out Wednesday night in several cities, leading to clashes with police and sometimes Arab Israelis.

Police said they were responding to violent incidents in cities including Acre, Haifa and Lod.

In Acre, a mixed Arab-Jewish town in northwest Israel, a Jew was seriously injured by stone throwers, police said.

"The rioters in Lod and Acre do not represent Israeli Arabs, the rioters in Bat Yam... do not represent Israeli Jews, violence will not dictate our lives," said opposition leader Yair Lapid, who is currently tasked with forming a government after March elections.

Palestinian militants in Gaza have launched hundreds of rockets since Monday at Israel, which has carried out air strikes on the crowded coastal enclave.

The most intense hostilities in seven years between Israel and Gaza's armed groups were triggered by weekend unrest at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound.


GAZA — Heavy exchanges of rocket fire and air strikes, and rioting in mixed Jewish-Arab towns, fuelled fears on Wednesday that deadly violence between Israel and Palestinians could spiral into "full-scale war".

Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz vowed more attacks on Hamas and other Islamist militant groups in Gaza to bring "total, long-term quiet" before considering a ceasefire.

"This is just the beginning," warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We'll deliver them blows they haven't dreamt of."

Gaza militants have launched more than 1,000 rockets since Monday, said Israeli forces, which has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Islamist groups in the crowded coastal enclave of Gaza.

The most intense hostilities in seven years have killed at least 56 people in Gaza, including 14 children, and six in Israel, including an Israeli soldier and one Indian national, since Monday.

Three Palestinians were killed in West Bank clashes. And at least 230 Palestinians and 100 Israelis have been wounded.

The bloodshed was triggered by weekend unrest at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque compound, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

As world powers voiced growing alarm over the crisis, the UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland warned that "we're escalating towards a full-scale war".

The UN Security Council held another emergency meeting without agreeing on a joint statement due to opposition from the United States, Israel's ally.

Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in the mixed Jewish-Arab Israeli city of Lod, where police said "wide-scale riots erupted among some of the Arab residents", and authorities later imposed an overnight curfew there.


'Step back from the brink' 

Israel's President Reuven Rivlin, in unusually strong language, denounced what he described as a "pogrom" in which "an incited and bloodthirsty Arab mob" had injured people and attacked sacred Jewish spaces.

Rivlin said Israelis needed "to be ready and armed, strong and determined, prepared to defend our home".

Palestinian groups, mainly Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have launched more than 1,000 rockets, Israeli forces said, including hundreds at Tel Aviv, where air sirens wailed overnight.

Of these, 850 have hit in Israel or been intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system, while the rest have crashed inside Gaza, the army said.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Gaza, the Israeli-blockaded strip of 2 million people that Hamas controls, targeting what the army described as "terror" sites.

Hamas said several of its top commanders were killed in Israeli strikes, including its military chief in Gaza City, Bassem Issa. Israel's internal security agency, the Shin Bet, also identified three other top Hamas militants who it said were killed.

Its leader Ismail Haniyeh threatened to step up attacks, warning that "if Israel wants to escalate, we are ready for it".

'Everything caught fire' 

In Gaza City, people sifted through debris after an Israeli air strike destroyed a 12-storey building that Hamas had been a residential building. It was also known to house the offices of several Hamas officials.

Five members of a single family were killed by an Israeli strike in northern Gaza on Tuesday, including young brothers Ibrahim and Marwan, who were filling sacks of straw at the time.

"We were laughing and having fun when suddenly they began to bomb us. Everything around us caught fire," their cousin, also called Ibrahim, told AFP.

"I saw my cousins set alight and torn to pieces," said the 14-year-old, breaking down in tears.

The crisis flared last Friday when weeks of tensions boiled over and Israeli riot police clashed with crowds of Palestinians at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque.

Nightly disturbances have since flared in east Jerusalem, leaving more than 900 Palestinians injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The unrest has been driven by anger over the looming evictions of Palestinian families from the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Large protests have been held in solidarity with Palestinians around the world, including in Britain and South Africa as well as in Muslim-majority countries including Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Tunisia and Turkey.

PARIS — Calls grew on Wednesday for a de-escalation of violence after intense hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians that have left at least 65 dead and hundreds injured.

The Israeli forces have launched hundreds of air strikes on the Gaza Strip since Monday, while Palestinian militants have launched more than 1,000 rockets in some of the worst violence in seven years.

Calls for calm emerged from around the world, while others voiced support for the warring parties. Here is a roundup of reactions:

Russia, Turkey 

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to halt fighting in a call with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the world needed to give Israel a "strong" lesson.

"Serious concern was expressed about the continuing clashes and the growing number of people killed and wounded," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin had "called on the parties to de-escalate tensions and peacefully resolve the emerging issues", the statement added.

Britain 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to "step back from the brink", calling for both sides to "show restraint".

"The UK is deeply concerned by the growing violence and civilian casualties and we want to see an urgent de-escalation of tensions," he said on Twitter.

Germany

Germany said Israel had a "right to self-defence" against deadly rocket fire by Palestinian militants.

"The German government condemns these incessant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israeli cities in the strongest terms," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Wednesday.

"Israel has the right to self-defence against these attacks."

United States 

The United States urged both Israel and the Palestinians to avoid "deeply lamentable" civilian deaths, calling for "calm" after days of violence.

"Israel does have a right to defend itself. At the same time reports of civilian deaths are something that we regret and would like to come to a stop," State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday.

"We don't want to see provocations. The provocations we have seen have resulted in a deeply lamentable loss of life," he said.

"We continue to call for calm, continue to call on all sides to de-escalate and to exercise restraint in their actions."

EU 

After speaking with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, European Council chief Charles Michel called on Israelis and Palestinians to focus on "de-escalation and prevention of the loss of innocent civilian lives on both sides".

A statement from the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the "indiscriminate launching of rockets from Hamas and other groups towards Israeli civilians is unacceptable".

Although he affirmed Israeli's "legitimate need to protect its civilian population", Borrell stressed that the response "needs to be proportionate" and that "everything must be done to prevent a broader conflict".

ICC 

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court(ICC) expressed concern that "crimes" might have been committed.

"I note with great concern the escalation of violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as in and around Gaza, and the possible commission of crimes under the Rome Statute," which founded the ICC, Fatou Bensouda said on Twitter Wednesday.

OIC — 
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned Israel and reiterated support for Palestinians.

The pan-Islamic body based in the Saudi city of Jeddah said "condemns in the strongest terms the repeated attacks by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people", in a statement released Tuesday after an emergency session.

It also denounced "the Israeli occupation forces' continuation of their colonial programmes -- building settlements, attempting to confiscate Palestinian properties, forceful eviction of Palestinians from their land".


BAGHDAD — The UN on Wednesday accused authorities in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region of intimidating and arbitrarily detaining journalists and activists.

"Over the last year, journalists, human rights activists and protesters who questioned or criticised actions by the Kurdistan regional authorities have faced intimidation, threats, and harassment as well as arbitrary arrest and detention," the world body said.

The joint report, by the UN's Iraq mission and the office of its High Commissioner for Human Rights, came a week after an appeals court upheld six-year jail sentences for five journalists and activists, after a trial criticised by rights groups.

The report said 33 journalists, activists or human rights defenders had been arrested without being told why, denied access to lawyers or held without their families being informed.

"In at least five documented cases, journalists and human rights defenders have been charged, released on bail, then immediately re-arrested on different charges, leading to concerns that the legal system is being 'instrumentalised'" to pressure them into self-censorship, it said.

On Tuesday last week an Erbil court upheld six-year jail sentences for three journalists and two activists over multiple charges.

The charges included "inciting protests and destabilising" Kurdistan, as well as "spying", "armed" struggle and "misuse of electronic devices".

The five men covered or took part in anti-government protests held last year in several Kurdish cities and towns, over a major fiscal crisis that delayed public sector salaries and pay cuts.

Human Rights Watch said the charge of "spying" was based solely on social media posts and testimony of "secret informants", who did not appear and were not cross-examined.

"These men were sentenced because of a biased political will," charged Belkis Wille, senior researcher at HRW.

A US State Department report on human rights in Kurdistan last year said "senior leaders reportedly influenced politically sensitive cases".

For example, one of the men, journalist Sherwan Sherwani, is known for his investigations into corruption and had criticised Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Facebook before his arrest.

The cassation court's decision "represents how significantly Kurdish authorities have allowed free expression to be eroded", Wille added.

Many activists say the security crackdown began after Barzani, a former head of the security and intelligence services, took office.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has insisted that the reporters had access to lawyers and that Arbil "does not interfere in judicial proceedings".

A week before the trial Barzani said the detainees were "neither activists nor journalists" but "spies" and "saboteurs".