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On Thursday, Israel deployed additional troops on the Gaza border after Palestinian rocket fire heightened tensions following the alleged revenge killing of a Palestinian teen in Jerusalem.
“We are moving and we have moved forces in order to serve defense activities and forward preparation, but we have no interest in escalation”,Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, spokesman for the Israeli army, said. Lerner added that the reinforcements sent were reserve officers at “headquarter level, not in the field”, and that the move was a defensive measure.
Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, also had a similar message.
“We are looking for calm, not escalation, but if Hamas chooses to act against us we shall be ready”, he said on the army’s Twitter account.
In the Shuafat neighborhood in east Jerusalem, masked Palestinians threw fireworks and stones at Israeli policemen, in addition to rolling burnt tires on the streets as the protest over the abduction and murder of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khder entered its second day. Many Palestinians believe that his murder was a copycat killing, similar to the kidnapping and murder of 3 Israeli teens in West Bank last month.
The Israeli police claim that the motive for the Palestinian teen’s murder is still unclear, and that they still do not know how he was killed; according to the family’s lawyer, the body was burnt “beyond recognition”. It is not known where the boy will be buried.
On Wednesday, security forces and Palestinians outraged by the boy’s murder clashed on the streets of east Jerusalem. 232 Palestinians, 178 of them from Shuafat, were injured in the fighting, Dr Amin Abu Ghazali from the Red Crescent in east Jerusalem, said. Six people were injured by live ammunition and 187 were injured by rubber bullets, he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the Palestinian teen’s murder, calling it “despicable” and urging both sides “not to take the law into their own hands”. Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas demanded that the Israeli government take action against the attacks, and called for the teen’s killers to be punished.