'Deeply concerned': United Nations condemns escalation of Israeli-Palestinian violence

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other senior officials have condemned the confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem. UN human rights experts have also raised concerns over the possible evictions of Palestinian families from their homes. The experts have also said that re-establishing calm in Jerusalem is "important" but creating the conditions for justice and equality is even "more important". 

"We condemn all violence and all incitement to violence and ethnic division and provocations," A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Rupert Colville said .

"Israeli Security Forces must allow and ensure the exercise of the right to freedoms of expression, association and assembly. No force should be used against those exercising their rights peacefully. When use of force is necessary, it should comply fully with international human rights standards," he added.

Israeli authorities "must exercise" maximum restraint and respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, the official spokesperson for Guterres, Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. It added that all leaders have a "responsibility to act against extremists" and also speak out against all acts of violence. On May 11 the Security Council met behind closed doors in New York to receive a briefing from the UN Special Coordinator for the region, Tor Wennesland. 

Airstrikes on Gaza

A confrontation between Israel and Hamas sparked by weeks of tensions in contested Jerusalem escalated on May 11. Israel unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza, killing a number of militants and civilians, while militants barraged southern Israel with hundreds of rockets, killing two Israelis. The health officials have said that at least 26 Palestinians — including nine children and a woman— were killed in Gaza, most by airstrikes. The Israeli military said at least 16 of the dead were militants. 

The airstrikes were preceded by hours of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, including dramatic confrontations at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a sacred site to both Jews and Muslims. Amid rising conflicts, hundreds of residents of Arab communities across Israel staged overnight demonstrations denouncing the recent actions of Israeli security forces against Palestinians. It was one of the largest protests by Palestinian citizens in Israel in recent years.

IMAGE: AP/@UNTwitter