Continued Violence at the Gaza-Israel Border

While two Palestinian teenagers from Gaza were killed on Friday, February 8, during clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian demonstrators at the border of the enclave and Israel, Israeli security forces arrested a Palestinian employee at a mosque in Ramallah one day after the murder of a 19-year-old Israeli girl. According to hospital sources in Gaza, the bodies of the Palestinian teenagers who were shot by Israeli soldiers during the latest protest by Gaza residents near the border were transferred to the morgues of Gaza hospitals. Dozens of injured individuals, mostly young Palestinians, were also sent to Gaza hospitals. An Israeli army spokesperson told Reuters, "There was no choice but to shoot to disperse the demonstrators from the border fence," as some of them were "throwing incendiary materials towards the border fence." The spokesperson estimated the number of Palestinian demonstrators this Friday at about six thousand, while some news sources assessed this number at around eight thousand. Israel insists that any attempt by Palestinian demonstrators to cross the border fence is considered a "red line." Meanwhile, some news sources claimed that the significant distance of the demonstrators this Friday did not pose a serious threat to the border fence. Since Hamas rejected Israel's preconditions for transferring Qatari financial aid to Gaza ten days ago, Friday border protests have noticeably intensified. This Friday's protests began after a rocket was fired from Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants towards Israel the day before, but it caused no damage. Gaza, with a population of about two million, has been under siege by both Israel and Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Since the beginning of border protests in early April of this year, more than 220 Palestinians have been killed in border protests, and many others have died in Israeli airstrikes in other areas. Meanwhile, Israeli media reported on Saturday, February 20, that the internal security service and army of Israel identified and arrested a Palestinian man suspected of murdering a 19-year-old Israeli girl shortly after the crime was committed. Ori Ansbacher had gone for a short walk in the surrounding forest from her workplace in Jerusalem on Thursday. According to the Times of Israel, her body was found in that same forest at midnight, showing multiple stab wounds to her upper body. Relatives of the Ansbacher family in the Jewish settlement of Tekoa in the West Bank expressed confidence that Palestinians killed the young girl because of her Jewish identity. Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the murder of this girl as "shocking" in a message on Friday and promised Ori's family that the perpetrator would be arrested and brought to trial soon. Israeli media reported that the Palestinian suspect in this murder was arrested early Saturday in Ramallah, a central Palestinian city in the West Bank. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli security forces searched two Palestinian residential complexes and the Jamal Abdel Nasser Mosque in Ramallah on Friday night, arresting a 30-year-old man who worked at the mosque. According to the Times of Israel, Danny Danon, Israel's representative to the UN, called for condemnation of this murder during a meeting with the rotating president of the Security Council. Mr. Danon stated that encouraging a "culture of terror," including paying salaries by the Palestinian Authority to families of Palestinian terrorists, leads to such murders. Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, stated last week that security cooperation between the Palestinian government and Israel has not been cut off despite all the crises of the past two years and "continues to this day." Meanwhile, according to the Associated Press, the Palestinian Authority rejected the US government's invitation to participate in the Warsaw conference on February 13 and 14. Saeb Erekat, the former chief Palestinian negotiator, tweeted on Friday: "We will never participate in this conference, and we have not authorized anyone to represent Palestinians at this conference." Palestinians rejected Poland's invitation while Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, is attending the Warsaw meeting.