World IN IMAGES. Caricatures of Mohammed: demonstrations in Israel, photos of Macron burned in the Gaza Strip

Gaza children struggle with studies during COVID-19 lockdown

With high poverty, power cuts, and poor internet amid Israel’s blockade, remote learning has been a nightmare.She uses her old smartphone to connect them with their teachers remotely to receive daily instruction.

Videos and photos from the march have been seen around the globe with images of protest met with violence sparking outrage. Palestinians wearing costumes are seen at the clashes scene at Israel - Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip April 5, 2018Credit: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa.

A new Israeli report into Muhammad al Dura's death in the Gaza Strip claims the images may have been staged by France 2, the French television station that broke the story in 2000. The claims, which will reignite tensions in an already highly-volatile region, have caused such outrage in Gaza that al

© JACK GUEZ / AFP Demonstrators in front of the residence of the French Ambassador in Tel Aviv, October 24, 2020.

Around 200 people demonstrated on Saturday night in front of the residence of the French ambassador to Israel to denounce Emmanuel Macron's comments on the prophet Muhammad cartoons while demonstrators burned photos of the French president in the Gaza Strip.

© JACK GUEZ / AFP Some demonstrators had their faces covered by a sanitary mask.

"We will not give up caricatures, drawings, even if others retreat" . These words pronounced by Emmanuel Macron during the national tribute to Samuel Paty , do not pass for certain countries of the Middle East which called for a boycott of French products on Saturday.In Israel , nearly 200 demonstrators gathered on Saturday evening in front of the residence of the French ambassador in Tel Aviv to denounce the remarks of the French president on the caricatures of the prophet Mohammed.

How the U.S. Can Help Israel Maintain its Military Edge | Opinion

As the United States retrenches from the Middle East, the value of a strong and capable Israel has only grown. Israel has shouldered the burden of countering U.S. enemies (Iran, ISIS, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood) while strengthening the security of U.S. partners (Jordan and Egypt), without requiring American boots on the ground. Israel's edge, however, has been eroding for years. Iran has been expanding its regional footprint and boosting the capabilities of Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis and other Shia militias in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, all while continuing to develop its nuclear program.

An Israeli military drone bombed a Hamas position in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday night in response to a violent riot along the border nearby, according to Palestinian media. While it was Israel ’s third retaliatory airstrike against the terror group in the past two days

Israel attacked targets in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Thursday morning in response to a Gaza -based media said the strikes hit targets across the Gaza Strip , from Rafah in the southern ( Mohammed Abed/AFP). Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Thursday morning approved barring fuel

© JACK GUEZ / AFP Israeli police officers stationed in front of the ambassador's residence.

The demonstrators called on banners written in Arabic in defense of the Prophet Muhammad, during this rally which began after evening prayers in Jaffa, a largely Arab city adjacent to the Tel Aviv metropolis.

The game of "the far right"

The prophet "is the most sacred thing in Islam and he who attains his honor, reaches a whole people" , declared to the crowd Amin Bukhari, a protester accusing the French president of playing the game of "the extreme right" .

"We must respect Moses among the Jews, we must respect Jesus Christ, who is also our prophet, and we must respect the prophet Mohammed (Muhammad, Editor's note), peace be upon him" , added this protester during this gathering in front of the residence of French Ambassador Eric Danon, who dispersed without incident.

Erdogan doubles down in backlash against Macron's Islam comments

The backlash against President Emmanuel Macron's comments on Islam intensified Sunday, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again urging him to have "mental checks" and many Muslims demanding boycotts of France. But Erdogan on Saturday urged Macron to have "mental checks" for treating "millions of members from different faith groups this way" -- comments which prompted Paris to recall its envoy to Ankara. The Turkish leader doubled down on those comments Sunday, accusing Macron of being "obsessed with Erdogan day and night".

TEL AVIV (Sputnik) – The Israeli military said Saturday it had struck two arms workshops, five bases, a training camp, an entrance to an underground tunnel and an observation post among other Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip .

In 2008 the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Hot Winter (Hebrew: מבצע חורף חם‎, Mivtza Horef Ham), also called Operation Warm Winter, in the Gaza Strip , starting on February 29, 2008 in response to Qassam rockets fired from the Strip by Hamas onto Israeli civilians.

Protesters burned photos of the French president in the Gaza Strip , reports AFP

Boycott of French products

Calls for a boycott of French products increased on Saturday in several countries and territories in the Middle East.

The French head of state spoke Thursday during a tribute to professor Samuel Paty , beheaded by an Islamist assailant after showing his 4th year students drawings of Muhammad on the occasion d 'a course on freedom of expression .

Representation of prophets is strictly prohibited by Sunni Islam and ridiculing or insulting the Prophet Muhammad is punishable by death in some Muslim countries.

The Islamist movements Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave of two million inhabitants, and Islamic Jihad have also denounced the words of the French president.

"Insulting religions and prophets is not a matter of freedom of expression but rather promotes a culture of hatred" , Hamas said in a statement, saying "to prevent" , without further details, of "consequences" that these statements could have.

For its part, the Islamic Jihad - the second armed group in Gaza, after Hamas - maintained "that to offend" Islam, and its prophet Muhammad, was a "red line" which "could not be tolerated ”.