Long-building anger has exploded because a series of events have all converged at once. A month ago, began the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and Palestinians had complained of what they say were unnecessarily severe restrictions by Israeli police, who prevented them from gathering on steps outside the Old City, this being an unofficial tradition after evening prayers.

Eventually, after the restrictions eased, a plan to evict dozens of Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah and give their homes to Jewish settlers, spiked the tension and continued to fuel confrontations. Amid rising tensions, there was an increase in communal violence, with videos shared online of street harassment and several attacks between Jews and Palestinians. Events came to a head in late April when hundreds of far-right Israelis marched down city streets chanting “death to Arabs” and confronted Palestinians.

On may 7 and 10, Israeli forces stormed Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and fired rubber bullets stun grenades and tear gas on Palestinians that remained after the evening prayers in order to protest the plans of eviction. The United Nations cited reports on Tuesday that more than 900 Palestinians in east Jerusalem had been injured between May 7 and May 10, and over 200 in the West Bank, “most by Israeli security forces,” some of whom had also been hurt.

Over the past days

Since Monday, Palestinian militants in Gaza have launched hundreds of rockets into Israel, and the Israeli military has carried out a stream of airstrikes targeting what it says are Hamas' military installations. The United Nations has called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Palestinians, warning that the devastating violence is on the cusp of spiraling out of control. The Palestinian extremist group Hamas, which rules in Gaza has been firing hundreds of rockets on Israel, including at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and Israel retaliated with deadly airstrikes on Gaza.

The enclave is where roughly 2 million Palestinians have lived under a stringent Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas came to power in 2007. More than 1,000 rockets have been fired by Palestinian militants at Israeli towns in the past 72 hours, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry. On Tuesday, Hamas said it had launched “a massive rocket strike against Tel Aviv and its suburbs, with 130 rockets, in response to the enemy’s targeting of residential towers ”. Israel Defense Forces said people in Tel Aviv, the country’s second-most populated city, were being rushed to bomb shelters early Wednesday.

People all around the world show their support

As I mentioned in the beginning, many celebrities made social media posts to bring awareness to the situation. “My heart breaks. My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people….Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation, our neighbours deserve the same.” are some of the words actress Gal Gadot shared on her Instragram feed.

As well as model, Bella Hadid confessed: “I have been told my entire life that who I am: a Palestinian woman - is not real. I’ve been told my father does not have a birth place if he is from Palestine. And I am here to say. Palestine is very much real and the Palestinian people are here to stay and coexist….It has always been about #freepalestine.”

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editorial: Arianne Paraschiv

translation: Arianne Paraschiv

graphic design: Ioana Butaru

DP (desktop publishing): Ioana Butaru