Israeli Airstrikes Hit Gaza Amid Heightened Tensions Over Trump’s Deal

• Israeli Airstrikes Hit Gaza Amid Heightened Tensions Over Trump’s Deal
  by https://thearabweekly.com/
  Prior to Trump’s announcement, Gaza has been relatively calm in recent months as Egyptian and UN mediators have worked to shore up an informal truce between Israel and Hamas.
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  JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said on Friday that it launched “wide-scale” airstrikes on militant targets in the Gaza Strip shortly after Palestinian militants fired three rockets into Israel, two of which were intercepted.
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  There were no reports of casualties or major damage from the exchange of fire overnight, which came amid heightened tensions after US President Donald Trump released his Middle East plan, a US initiative aimed at ending the conflict that heavily favors Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians.
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  Palestinians have called for large protests after Friday prayers, including at a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem that is sacred to Muslims and Jews. The plan contains mixed messages about the fragile understandings governing the holy site, which could provoke a backlash there.
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  Gaza has been relatively calm in recent months as Egyptian and UN mediators have worked to shore up an informal truce between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the coastal territory.
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  Hamas has curbed rocket fire and rolled back weekly protests along the frontier that had often turned violent. In return, Israel has eased the blockade it imposed on Gaza after Hamas seized power from forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority in 2007.
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  Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have rejected the Trump plan, which would allow Israel to annex all of its Jewish settlements, along with the Jordan Valley, in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians were offered limited self-rule in Gaza, parts of the West Bank and some sparsely populated areas of Israel in return for meeting a long list of conditions.
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  Hamas has vowed that “all options are open” in responding to the proposal, but is not believed to be seeking war with Israel. Palestinian militants have fought three devastating wars with Israel since the Hamas takeover.
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  Palestinians have held small, scattered protests in recent days condemning the Trump initiative, and larger demonstrations are expected after Friday prayers, including at the Jerusalem holy site known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
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  Tunisian president: Trump’s Mideast plan is ‘injustice of the century’
  President Kais Saied of Tunisia, an ally of the United States, said on Thursday that the new US plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians is the “injustice of the century”.
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  Tunisia is serving a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will speak in the Council in the next two weeks about the plan announced by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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