Israeli police arrest dozens of Arabs amid Gaza assault

By Abdel-Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli police arrested 58 Arab Israelis early Wednesday amid ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, according to a human rights organization.

In a statement, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights (Adalah) said the majority of the arrests took place in cities and towns south of the country.

"[We] communicated with volunteer lawyers to be present in the various police stations to give [legal] advice to the detainees before their interrogation," Adalah said.

Arab-majority towns in Israel have witnessed marches in solidarity with Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

At least 219 Palestinians have been killed, including 63 children and 36 women, and 1,530 others injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since May 10, according to the Health Ministry.

Twelve Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Recent tensions that started in East Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan spread to Gaza as a result of Israeli assaults on worshippers in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara