Israel has increased its military presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and in a few cases sealed off entire Palestinian neighborhoods, in response to the protests, clashes and a spate of stabbing attacks.
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“We strongly condemn the terrorist attacks against innocent civilians”, Kerry said without blaming either side for the violence. “We will continue to support Israel’s right to defend its existence”.
The IDF said it had struck Hamas weapons manufacturing plants following the launching of two rockets at southern Israel.
Thirty-two Palestinians and seven Israelis have been killed during two weeks of bloodshed.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his willingness to meet Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, while accusing him of inciting and encouraging violence.
Netanyahu’s frosty comments came in the wake of rising criticism of Israel as it defends itself from random attacks on its streets, which Israel says are being encouraged by Palestinian leaders.
“I think it’s potentially useful because it might stop the wave of incitement and false allegations against Israel”, he said. On Thursday, after Abbas’s address, Israel’s Government Press Office released a video, without sound, showing a youth it identified as Manasra being spoon-fed in a bed in Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital. This week has seen a number of Israelis killed at the hands of individuals who are intent on violence.
During the night of October 14, Abbas accused Israelis of “executing our boys in cold blood, as they did with the boy Ahmed Manasra and other children in Jerusalem and other places”.
Kerry said he plans to travel to the region “in the coming days”, amid reports that a meeting could be arranged between Netanyahu and Abbas in Jordan. Kirby later said he didn’t mean to suggest the status quo for the city’s most sensitive holy site – known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif – had been broken as Palestinians have claimed.
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “would find that the apparent excessive use of force by Israeli security forces is also troubling and demands serious review, as it only serves to exacerbate the situation, leading to a vicious cycle of needless bloodshed”.
An Israeli soldier talks to a woman inside a supermarket as security forces search inside the Central Jerusalem Bus Station after police said a woman was stabbed by a Palestinian outside the station late on Wednesday.
Israel erected checkpoints and deployed several hundred soldiers in the Palestinian areas of the city Wednesday as it stepped up security following a series of attacks in Jerusalem.
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In addition, the police issued security camera footage of Monday’s attack, clearly demonstrating that Manasra and his cousin, 15, were intent on stabbing Jews.
