The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed “its strongest condemnation” of the terrorist attacks that occurred in Israel both in the cities of Tel Aviv and in Efrat that caused the death of three people.
“Our country joins the call of the international community in favor of tolerance and peace, to prevent these tensions from continuing to escalate,” said the foreign ministry.
“Uruguay invariably condemns all terrorist acts and also urges the parties to promote instances of dialogue that lead to the immediate cessation of hostilities,” the statement concluded.
Israel announced on Friday night the mobilization of reserve police and military reinforcements after the death of three people in two attacks, amid a new escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
In Tel Aviv, at night, a driver launched his car down a bike path on a large avenue facing the sea, killing a man and injuring seven people between the ages of 17 and 74.
The head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni, indicated that the 36-year-old fatality was a citizen of her country, identified as Alessandro Parini, and sent condolences to his family.
Among the wounded being treated at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital were four tourists: three British and one Italian.
A policeman and municipal agents who were nearby shot down the driver who was trying to get hold of a weapon. Police identified him as a 45-year-old man from Kfar Kassem, an Arab town in the center of Israel.
Following this attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “to mobilize all reserve police units at the borders and to mobilize additional (army) forces to confront terrorist attacks.”
In the morning, two British-Israeli sisters, ages 16 and 20, were killed and their mother seriously injured in an attack in the Jewish settlement of Efrat, in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
The United States expressed its support for the government of Israel and said that “attacking innocent civilians of any nationality is inadmissible,” said his diplomacy spokesman, Vedant Patel.
These attacks occurred after the bombardments launched by Israel against positions of the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip and in southern Lebanon, in response to the firing of dozens of rockets into its territory.
The outbreak of violence was triggered after the invasion of the Israeli forces on Wednesday in the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third holy place of Islam, in the midst of the Muslim Ramadan celebrations.
Dozens of rockets were fired at Israel on Thursday, and early Friday morning, the Israeli army responded with attacks in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip against positions of the Palestinian Hamas movement.
“Pay the Price”
The attack in the West Bank came just hours after Israeli military forces launched airstrikes in Gaza and Lebanon targeting “terrorist infrastructure belonging to Hamas.”
In Tyre, in southern Lebanon, AFP journalists heard loud explosions.
“At least two shells landed near the camp” for Palestinian refugees in Rashidieh, refugee Abu Ahmad told AFP.
Benjamin Netanyahu had warned of a strong reaction from Israel. “We will hit our enemies and make them pay the price for each attack,” she said.
On Thursday, on the day of the Jewish Passover, about thirty rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon, in the biggest escalation since 2006 on the border between these two countries, which are technically still at war after several conflicts.
Since April 2022, no rockets have been launched from Lebanon towards Israel, which then also carried out attacks against its neighbor. However, this is the most serious incident since the 2006 war against Hezbollah.
“Threats and intimidation by the Zionist leadership will not lead to anything,” Naim Qasem, second in command of the Shiite Hezbollah movement, which controls de facto southern Lebanon, stressed on Friday.
“The entire axis of resistance is in a state of alert,” he added.
Calls to stop the escalation
The Palestinian Hamas movement condemned “in the strongest possible terms the appalling Israeli aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip and Lebanon.”
Hamas and Islamic Jihad informed Egypt — which usually acts as a mediator — on Friday that “the Palestinian factions will continue to fire rockets, if Israel continues its attacks and shelling,” sources from these groups in Gaza told AFP.
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Relations affirmed that his country wants to preserve calm in the southern zone and called on the international community to “pressure Israel to stop the escalation.
These episodes occur after the violent eviction of Palestinian faithful in the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, which left 350 detainees according to the Hebrew authorities and 37 injured according to the Red Crescent.
The temple is located in the Esplanade of the Mosques, the third holy place of Islam and located in turn in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian sector of the city occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967.
With information from AFP
