In Pics: How Trump earned Muslim countries' wrath with Jerusalem decision

Israel strikes kill two in Gaza as rage simmers

Israel has targeted a number of sites of the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for earlier rocket strikes.

The Israeli military said it hit a weapons manufacturing site and an ammunition store early on Saturday while a Hamas military post was also pounded by the Israeli war jets with two missiles in northern Gaza on Friday evening, the BBC reported.

Palestinian protesters stand near a burning barricade in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Photo: reuters.

Ten Palestinians were hurt in the reprisal bombing, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Israel shelling came after three rockets were fired from Gaza to Israel in the past day, with one hitting the southern city of Sderot.

Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have increased since US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Two Palestinians were killed and more than 300 others were wounded during Friday protests in Gaza and West Bank.

Mahmoud al-Masry, 30, was fatally shot during a "Days of Rage" protest in the Gaza town of Khan Younis, while 54-year-old Maher Atallah died at the hands of Israeli troops in the northern part of Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
 

upporters of Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e-Islami rally against United States and Israel in Karachi, Pakistan. Photo: PTI/AP

Another 340 Palestinians were wounded by rubber bullets or live rounds, said the Ministry, while nearly 750 required medical attention for teargas inhalation and blows, Efe news reported.

Though the largest number of wounded was in the West Bank, the most serious injuries occurred in Gaza, where 170 people were shot.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said that 4,500 Palestinians took part in "violent demonstrations" in Gaza hurling burning tires and rocks at troops and police.

Twenty-eight protesters were arrested in the West Bank, the IDF said.

Protesters carry a large Palestinian flag as they march through the streets of Chicago's famed Loop to protest President Trump's announcement declaring US support for Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the moving of the US embassy. Photo: PTI

The US saw itself isolated at the Security Council session in New York as members of the UNSC criticised its Jerusalem stand and warned that it would raise tensions in the area.

The political conflict over Jerusalem could turn into an unrelenting religious conflict, France's Permanent Representative Francois Delattre said.

Citing several Council resolutions, he said that any unilateral changes to the city's status would be null and void.

US Permanent Representative 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 UN or by any collection of countries that have proven their disregard for Israel's security," Haley said.

Thousands of protesters, some holding Palestinian and Turkish flags march in the streets after Friday prayers in Istanbul. Photo: AP/PTI

Thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters marched after Friday prayers in Istanbul in an angry protest at the decision of US President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Chanting slogans including "Jerusalem is ours and will remain so!" and "down with America, down with Israel", the protesters marched after prayers at the Ottoman Fatih mosque in the centre of Istanbul, an AFP correspondent said.

Other protests were planned elsewhere in Istanbul and across Turkey on Friday.

"We consider Jerusalem as the bastion of the Muslim community ... We are here to show our unity and our strength. Nobody can deter us," said protester Doguhan, 17.

Merve, a student, said she and her colleagues had left their classes to attend the protest, describing the US decision as "null and void".

"What Trump says is empty words and means nothing to us. Whenever we see the name of Israel on a map, we cross it out and write Palestine," she added.

Pakistani cleric and head of Jamatud Dawa Hafiz Saeed addresses an anti-American rally in Lahore, Pakistan

Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed on Friday made his first public appearance after he was freed from house arrest and led a rally here to launch a country-wide campaign against US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Saeed said the Defence Council Pakistan (DCP) will send its delegations to Muslim countries and convince them not to open their embassies in Jerusalem as he led the rally outside the JuD headquarters in Chauburji after the Friday prayers.

The banned JuD, believed to be the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which carried out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed, is an active member of the DCP.

"Any Muslim country if opens its consulate in Jerusalem should be barred from opening their embassies in the Muslim countries," Saeed suggested.

He said the Muslim countries should unite against the US.

Saeed said the Pakistani government should immediately convene a session of joint parliament to discuss the Jerusalem announcement and make a strategy regarding it.

Samiul Haq, known as father of Taliban in a protest. Photo: PTI/AP

Pakistani cleric Samiul Haq talks to a gathering of tribal elders in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017. Haq, known as the "Father of the Taliban," described Trump as an "evil man" and urged the Muslim world to stop the US leader from insulting Palestinians.

Hundreds of Islamists and other organizations have rallied in major cities of Pakistan, condemning U.S. President Donald Trump for declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

 

An Algerian man holds a picture of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during a protest. Photo: PTI/AP

Thousands of Algerians across the country marched on Friday to protest Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Xinhua reported.

All the marches started from mosques, just after the midday prayers.

But protesters were prevented from marching in the capital Algiers due to a government ban dating back to 2010, which says such events would disturb public order.

Hundreds of people challenging the authorities, therefore, clashed with the police in several neighborhoods, including the southern suburb of Algiers, local media reported.

 

State-sponsored protests in Tehran on Friday against U.S. moving its embassy to Jerusalem. Photo: Twitter (@FDD_Iran)

Elsewhere, demonstrations against Trump's announcement have spread as thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters held rallies in Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Tunisia and Iran.

Demonstrations were also held in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country.