FASSUTA: A barrage of rockets was fired from Lebanon at Israel on the Jewish Passover holiday on Thursday, in the largest escalation along the fro­ntier since Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006.

The rocket fire came just days after Israeli police drew widespread condemnation and warnings of retaliation from around the region for clashing with Palestinians inside Al Aqsa mosque.

Pakistan strongly condemned the recent Israeli attacks on Al Aqsa mosque. The National Assembly passed a resolution stating that the attacks on women and children are a gross violation of human rights. It said the attacks have hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world, urging the international community, inc­lu­ding human rights organisations, to break silence on this violence.

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the US is “concerned” by the scenes of violence out of Jerusalem, adding that the administration is in regular touch with Israeli partners and the Palestinian authority. Patel said he did not have a specific engagement between US and Israeli officials to talk about the Al Aqsa raid.

Israel blamed Palestinians groups for the rockets fired from Lebanon, an army spokesperson said. “We know for sure it’s Palestinian fire, it’s hard to say, it could be Hamas it could be Islamic Jihad, we are still trying to finalise but it wasn’t Hezbollah,” an army spokesperson said.

Earlier, Israel’s army said it had “identified 34 rockets that were fired from Lebanese territory into Israeli territory” and that 25 were intercepted by Israeli air defences.

“Five rockets landed in Israeli territory,” added the army statement that followed the attack, which was not immediately claimed by any group.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was “receiving continuous updates about the security situation and will conduct an assessment with the heads of the security establishment”, his office said.

Israeli emergency services repor­ted a man had been lightly wounded by shrapnel and a female was injured while running to a shelter.—Agencies

Anwar Iqbal in Washington adds: The UN Security Council convened an emergency session on Thursday to discuss recent Israeli violence against Palestinian worshippers in Al Aqsa mosque this week.

The closed door meeting was called by the UAE, the Arab League’s representative on the top UN panel, and China, a permanent member of the council.

The United States has expressed ‘extreme concern’ over Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

The raids have drawn heavy criticism from various leaders and organisations across the world.

A UN statement noted that Thursday was the seventh day that the Council has met to discuss the situation in the Middle East. Ordinarily, the Council meets once a month under this agenda item.

The statement indicated that council members sought an update from UN representative for the ME on the ongoing tensions at Haram Al Sharif.

According to the Israeli police, “dozens of law-breaking and masked juveniles smuggled fireworks, clubs and stones into the mosque and violently barricaded themselves inside,” forcing the police to act.

The UN also mentioned the Israeli policy’s stance, claiming that “stones were thrown and multiple firecrackers were set off inside the mosque,” and they entered the mosque to force them out.

The UN report also mentioned witness accounts cited by Al Jazeera say that the Israeli police “beat worshippers with batons and used tear gas and sound bombs to force them out of the prayer halls”.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2023