JERUSALEM // Israel has reopened Palestinian crossing points from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip following a three-day closure put in place after last week’s deadly Tel Aviv shooting. An army spokeswoman said on Monday that crossings were reopened overnight as planned, although “security checks are continuing” in Yatta, the West Bank village where the two Tel Aviv gunmen were from.
The village had been put on lockdown in the hours after Wednesday night’s attack that killed four Israelis and wounded five others.
Crossing points were shut on Friday morning, preventing Palestinians from entering Israel and annexed east Jerusalem.
However, thousands of Palestinians were allowed to cross on Friday to attend the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem for the first prayers of Ramadan. The mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam.
The closure also coincided with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which was celebrated on Sunday.
Israel regularly shuts crossing points during major Jewish holidays, when large numbers of Israelis congregate to pray or celebrate, presenting a potential target for Palestinian attacks.
Israel announced a range of measures following the Tel Aviv attack, in which two Palestinian cousins opened fire at a busy cafe.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also announced the cancellation of tens of thousands of permits for Palestinians to enter Israel and east Jerusalem during Ramadan.
The moves drew international concern, with France strongly condemning the attack but also warning against further exacerbating tensions.
United Nations rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s office in a statement on Friday also condemned the attack but said the Israeli measures may amount to “collective punishment”.
The Tel Aviv attack was the deadliest in a wave of violence that began in October.
One of the gunmen was arrested, while the other was shot and underwent surgery.
The Israeli authorities have imposed a news blackout while the investigation continues.
Israel also extended the detention without trial of Palestinian clown Mohammad Abu Sakha for another six months. The Palestinian Circus School issued a statement on Monday saying, “Administrative detention order extended (for) another six months. Our hearts are heavy.”
Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security agency confirmed his detention had been extended to December. The agency alleges he is an active member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel regards as a terrorist group because it has an armed wing. .
Abu Sakha, 24, was arrested on December 14 in the occupied West Bank. and has been in administrative detention since January under the controversial measure permitting Israel to hold suspects without trial for periods of six months, renewable indefinitely.
Amnesty International has called for Abu Sakha’s release.
* Agence France-Presse
At a glance
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Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
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Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
SNAPSHOT
While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.
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The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
