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The Israeli authorities announced that they will close the border crossing to thousands of workers from Gaza due to the firing of several rockets from the area. A decision that adds to the escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine that has led to clashes that have focused in recent days on the Esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem.
“The reopening of the crossing will be decided based on the assessment of the security situation,” said a spokesman for the Israeli military body that coordinates civil affairs in Gaza. The statement referred to the closure of the Erez crossing with Gaza, through which thousands of Palestinian workers enter Israeli territory.
The decision adds to the tense panorama that exists in the region after multiple clashes. And it is justified by the Israeli authorities for the firing of a series of rockets from the territory governed by the Islamist group Hamas.
However, it has been criticized by various Palestinian groups. The workers’ union has classified the closure as “a collective punishment”, assuring that it will affect, even more, the economy of the area.
In Gaza, unemployment touches about 50% of the population, a situation that has worsened since the Israeli-Egyptian blockade established when Hamas took power almost 15 years ago.
In addition, the determination will affect the thousands of workers who had received work permits from Israel in recent months. About 12,000 of them are assigned to Palestinians in Gaza and the number had recently increased as part of a series of confidence-building measures between Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
However, rocket fire amid escalating violence in Jerusalem over the past week threatens to turn the tide of rapprochement.
Many fear that the scenario of last year could be repeated when, after a wave of clashes, the Israeli authorities intervened in the Gaza Strip, claiming the lives of more than 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
An increase in hostilities
There are multiple events that have added to the tensions that the region is going through. Israeli authorities say Palestinian militants fired two rockets on Friday night: one landed in an open area on Israeli soil and the other from inside Gaza. While Palestinian media say that two residents of the strip were injured by one of the rockets.
In addition, the Israeli Army announced that another one was launched on Saturday morning. However, no further details were given about where he landed. This marks the fourth rocket attack in a week.
So far, none of the Gaza militias have claimed responsibility for the attacks that have been attributed to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, while Israel holds Hamas responsible.
But the launches have not been the only cause of a new peak of tension between Israel and Palestine. The Esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem has become one of the nerve centers of this new escalation of violence.
There have been almost daily clashes between Israeli authorities and Palestinian protesters. On Friday there were new altercations in the framework of the third Friday of the Ramadan prayer. At least 57 Palestinians were injured inside the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
This enclosure is considered the third holiest place for Islam. But for the Jews it is called the Temple Mount because in ancient times two of its sanctuaries were located there.
Hamas reacts to border closure
Recently, after the entry of the Israeli authorities into the mosque, an act considered provocative, Hamas called on the Palestinians to “mobilize” to defend it.
Now, after the closure of the border, the group has also reacted. A spokesman assured that the measure “is aimed at reinforcing the siege and is a form of aggression that we cannot accept.”
“This will not succeed. The collective punishment police against the Palestinians have always failed, ”he sentenced for the Associated Press news agency.
The new tensions further weaken Israeli-Palestinian relations, which have not seen substantive peace talks for more than a decade.
With EFE, AP and Reuters
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