Jerusalem’s normally busy streets were strangely quiet on Monday as a third day of deadly violence broke out in and around the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian militants.
“Jerusalem is indeed a ghost town,” said May Bahbah, a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem in her 40s.
“People are in fear and worried,” she told AFP, standing next to a shuttered greengrocer.
Palestinians living in the city’s Israeli-annexed east “have to go to their jobs but they are worried they might be abused” by Israeli forces “because of the war situation”, said Bahbah.
There were hardly many stores open on Monday close to Khan al-Zait, the major bazaar in the Old City.
The 42-year-old Hazem, who wished to remain anonymous, arrived from the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan to run errands and was obviously upset.
“The (Israeli) police officers asked me to get out of the car, and they searched it and found an electrical outlet tester,” he told AFP.
“One of them slapped me so hard, and when they wanted to attack me, an Arab officer stopped them.”
Israeli retiree Sara, 70, was seated on a bench in the west of the city after taking a morning stroll along the normally crowded major streets, which were now all but abandoned.
“I did not see many people in the streets, but it’s natural, it’s war!” she said. “We are all worried… those who have someone in the army are very anxious.”
The atmosphere around the city “reminds me of 1973”, when Arab armies attacked Israel in a war that scarred the nation.
At the First Station commercial centre, which was full of people just days ago during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, businesses had ground to a halt, with the vast majority of storefronts showing “closed” signs.
Since early Saturday am when gunfire erupted as a result of a surprise strike by Hamas terrorists targeting southern Israel, neither the east nor the west of the city have had a chance to start the school week.
According to official statistics, since then, 560 Palestinians have died in the blockaded Gaza Strip and about 700 have died in Israel.
