Several nations, including two permanent members of the UN Security Council, called for an emergency meeting to address the crisis in Jerusalem after a weekend of clashes that left more than 150 people wounded, the vast majority of them Palestinians.
Norway’s UN mission indicated on its social channels that Norway, the United Arab Emirates, France, Ireland and China had submitted a request for consultations to be held behind closed doors the following day.
The session was deemed significant because it had been requested by France and China, two permanent members of the council.
The recent violence traces back to March 22, when a sequence of attacks, violent incursions, and confrontations between Palestinians and Israelis began, following the murder of four Israeli civilians in a knife attack and a vehicle-ramming incident in Beer Sheva. Those events have since resulted in the loss of 39 lives, an escalation attributed to Islamic State claims and actions carried out by an Israeli individual of Bedouin origin.
Over the weekend, the violence extended to the Esplanade of Mosques in Jerusalem, injuring around 150 Palestinians. Israeli security forces also detained eleven additional Palestinians overnight in the West Bank on suspicions of terrorism, according to the military.
In a representative move, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reaffirmed the need to preserve the status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites during a telephone call with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sabad al Khaled, a remark that appears to reference the Israeli police operation near the Al Aqsa Mosque complex.
Caption: Israeli police officers with rubber cartridge shotguns near the Mosques Esplanade in Jerusalem. EP
According to a UN briefing, Guterres’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, described the situation as one where provocation must be avoided at all costs.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stressed yesterday that Israeli security forces have a clear government mandate to take actions necessary to protect Israeli citizens.
“Security forces are prepared for any scenario,” Bennett asserted, underscoring the government’s readiness to respond.
The current flare-up coincides with major religious observances—Christian Holy Week, Passover, and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan—an overlap that has intensified tensions and added complexity to decision-making at the regional and international levels. It has also resulted in the marginalization of one Islamist party within Israel’s coalition government, marking a period of notable political strain in recent years.