Israeli-Palestinian violence reaches Gaza

Israeli troops shot dead six Palestinians in protests in Gaza and a knife-wielding Jewish man wounded four Arabs in southern Israel on Friday in a wave of violence that has fuelled talk of a new uprising, or intifada.

The soldiers shot across the border into Gaza after the Palestinians came too close to the Israeli frontier, throwing stones and rolling burning tires, an army spokeswoman said. Gaza medics said six people were killed and 50 others wounded.

The protests were in solidarity with Palestinians in Occupied Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where tensions have surged in 10 days of violence in which four Israelis and at least eight Palestinians have been killed.

Palestinians have been angered by events at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Occupied Jerusalem’s Old City and fear Israel wants to change the status quo at the holy site, revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied wanting to change the internationally-recognized status-quo under which Jews are allowed to visit the site but not allowed to perform any prayers.

IN OPINION: Are we on the brink of a religious war in Jerusalem?

In Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called the violence in the north “will represent the start of a new intifada in all of the land of Palestine.”

Earlier on Friday, a Jewish assailant stabbed four Arab men in the southern Israeli city of Dimona.

In the northern city of Afula, an Israeli-Arab woman was shot several times and wounded by police who closed in on her as she allegedly held up a knife,

A video clip of the incident allegedly showed the woman holding a knife while being surrounded by police. Al Arabiya News has seen the vide but cannot independently verify its content.

In the Old City of Occupied Jerusalem, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded a 14-year-old Jewish boy, and near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli policeman before being shot dead.

There was also violence in the West Bank city of Ramallah, with video footage showing an Israeli army jeep running over a stone-throwing Palestinian, who was wounded. Medics said 247 Palestinians were hurt in Friday’s West Bank disturbances.