Israeli violence against Palestinians in the last week has killed at least 18 people in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.The majority of those killed were victims of Israeli air strikes in Gaza, even as the head of the US President Donald Trump-appointed Board of Peace pushes for a framework to disarm Hamas.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listA combination of settler and army shootings killed three people in the West Bank. Settler attacks carried out in the Palestinian territory have ramped up in the past few weeks as the joint US and Israeli war on Iran escalates, with evidence that the Israeli army has facilitated the violence.The violence comes as Israel continues to restrict worship at Palestinian holy sites, ostensibly because of the threat of Iranian attacks.The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound had already been closed to Muslim worshippers since late February, with authorities extending the state of emergency until mid-April.But on Sunday, Israeli forces prevented Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied East Jerusalem to perform Palm Sunday mass. It was the first time in centuries, the Latin patriarchate said, that the head of the church had been barred from doing so.A global backlash, including soft criticism from United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, led to Israeli Prim …
