Continued Severe Security Crisis Between Israel and Palestinians

The severe security crisis between Israel and the Palestinians continues on Saturday, October 10. While attacks with knives by Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel and the retaliatory response from Israeli soldiers have left more casualties on both sides, rockets have also been fired from Gaza into southern Israel. A rocket launched from Gaza early Saturday triggered alarms in southern Israel but landed in an open area, causing no injuries. Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force responds to any rocket attacks from Gaza. At the same time, according to Israeli radio, two religious Jewish men were attacked with a knife by a 16-year-old Palestinian boy on Saturday morning. Israeli police, who were nearby, shot and killed the knife-wielding teenager. Additionally, in response to the police's efforts to disperse a gathering following the attack in Jerusalem, an Israeli journalist was injured in the leg by a rubber bullet; a journalist from the Lebanese network Al-Mayadeen was also injured two days earlier in similar events in the same area of Jerusalem but continued to report live. Throughout Friday night until early Saturday morning, protest gatherings accompanied by stone-throwing and Molotov cocktails continued in Arab towns and villages in northern Israel and in Arab-populated areas around Jerusalem. In an attack by hundreds of young Palestinians near the Gaza border with southern Israel on Friday and early Saturday morning, seven Palestinians were killed and dozens were injured. Ismail Haniyeh, deputy head of Hamas's political bureau in Gaza, praised Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel who attacked Jews with knives, stating that these events mark the beginning of a new intifada. Meanwhile, leaders of the Palestinian Authority have called for calm, stating that the aspirations of Palestinians cannot be achieved through this means. However, on Friday, several attacks between Jews and Palestinians occurred in various cities. Israeli police reported that a Jewish youth with a criminal record attacked four Arab and Palestinian street cleaners with a knife in the city of Dimona in southern Israel early Friday morning. In the city of Afula, a 29-year-old Arab student from Israel also attacked several passersby with a knife; Israeli police shot and arrested her. On Thursday, at least six knife attacks occurred in Jewish neighborhoods of Kiryat Arba and in the cities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Afula, and Kiryat Gat. The Thursday attack in Jerusalem was also carried out by a Palestinian Arab girl, who was shot and arrested. Meanwhile, after Israel returned the bodies of two attackers from recent assaults to their families, a funeral ceremony was held on Saturday in the villages of Hebron with hundreds of angry Palestinian demonstrators in attendance. In recent days, thousands of Israeli police and border guards have been deployed in sensitive areas of cities like Jerusalem, while the military has also been reinforced at the borders with Gaza and the West Bank. As of Saturday afternoon, October 10, the number of Israeli fatalities reached four and Palestinian fatalities reached 17. Dozens of Palestinians and several Israelis have been injured in these reciprocal attacks.