Israel on Tuesday banned Jewish visitors and tourists from accessing the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem by the end of the month of Ramadan. Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it shot dead two armed Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
A security measure in a context of high tensions. Israeli police interventions to dislodge hundreds of pilgrims from the mosque last week provoked rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. "When terrorism strikes us, we must respond with great force, not give in to its whims," says Israel's Minister of National Security.