Israel’s military said it hit weapons sites early on Saturday. Two people were killed, a Gaza hospital said, bringing the deaths in Israeli strikes and gunfire over the past day to four.

Three rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza late on Friday.

Israeli-Palestinian tensions have risen since President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Wednesday’s decision reversed decades of US neutrality on the matter.

Israel has always regarded Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem – occupied by Israel in the 1967 war – as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Earlier on Friday, Fathi Hammad, a senior Hamas leader, said anyone seeking to move their embassy to Jerusalem was “an enemy of the Palestinians”.

Speaking before the United Nations on Friday, US ambassador Nikki Haley said the US “recognises the obvious; that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel”.

She said the US continued to be “committed to achieving a lasting peace agreement”, and accused the UN of bias, saying it “has outrageously been one of the world’s foremost centres of hostility towards Israel”.

“Israel will never be, and never should be, bullied into an agreement by the United Nations or by any collection of countries that have proven their disregard for Israel’s security,” Mrs Haley said.

Israel had deployed extra battalions to the West Bank in anticipation of violence after Palestinian leaders called for protests after Friday prayers.

At least 217 Palestinians were wounded in confrontations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinian medics said.

There were protests held elsewhere on Friday against Mr Trump’s announcement.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters held demonstrations in Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Tunisia and Iran.

Further afield, protesters rallied in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indian-administered Kashmir and Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.

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Source: BBC

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It also said it was aiming for more talks with rivals Fatah as it aims to end their decade-long feud.

Hamas representatives have been meeting senior Egyptian officials in Cairo.

In a cautious initial response, the deputy head of Fatah said the move was “positive and promising”.

After deadly clashes in 2007, Fatah was driven out of the Gaza Strip.

Attempts by the two factions to form a unity government in Gaza and the West Bank since then have failed.

There has been no official response from the Fatah delegation in Egypt, but the deputy leader Mahmoud al-Aloul cautiously welcomed the news and called for other issues to be resolved, including control of border crossings and social reconciliation.

Hamas won the 2006 election but after the 2007 clashes, President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the Hamas prime minister. The group continued to rule over Gaza, while Fatah continued to lead the Palestinian Authority in the parts of the West Bank not under Israeli control.

Associated Press reports that it is not yet clear whether Hamas is ready to place its security forces under Mr Abbas’s control – a major sticking point in the past.

A key demand: Analysis by the BBC’s Yolande Knell

It has been a key demand of President Abbas and his Fatah faction that Hamas dissolve the administrative committee that it set up in March. It is seen as a rival government to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank.

In recent months amid deepening political divisions Mr Abbas has piled pressure on Hamas, taking some controversial steps such as reducing electricity payments for Gaza.

Egypt has long acted as a go-between to try to end the damaging rift between the two main Palestinian factions.

Hamas as a whole, or in some cases its military wing, is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the US, EU, UK and other powers.

Since 2007, Israel and Egypt have maintained a land and sea blockade on Gaza in an attempt to prevent attacks by Gaza-based militants.

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Source: BBC

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